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EXPERIMENTS    ON    ANIMALS 


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EXPERIMENTS 
ON    ANIMALS 


BY 

STEPHEN    PAGET 


WITH     AN     INTRODUCTION     BY 

LORD    LISTER 

THIRD   AND    REVISED   EDITION 


"  Perhaps  it  is  wrong  to  compare  sin  with  sin,  but  I 
declare  to  you,  the  more  I  think  of  it,  the  more  intimately 
does  this  Prejudice  seem  to  me  to  corrupt  the  soul,  even 
beyond  those  sins  tohick  are  commonly  called  more 
deadly."— Cardie  Ah  Newman. 


NEW   YORK 
WILLIAM   WOOD   AND    COMPANY 

MDCCCCVII 


.i^ 


TO 
CHARLES  ALFRED  BALLANCE 

M.S.,  F.R.C.S. 
AND 

WILLIAM  HUNTER 

M.D.,  F.R.C.P. 


41o33S 


PREFACE 

The  first  edition  of  this  book  was  published  in  1900. 
For  twelve  years  it  hac^  been  my  business,  as  Secretary 
to  the  Association  for  the  Advancement  of  Medicine  by 
Research,  to  know  something  about  experiments  on 
animals,  and  to  follow  the  working  of  the  Act  of  1876  ; 
and  to  give  facts  and  references  to  a  very  large  number 
of  applicants.  Believing  that  an  account  of  these  ex- 
periments, and  of  the  conditions  imposed  on  them  by 
the  Act,  might  serve  a  useful  purpose,  I  proposed  to 
the  Council  of  the  Association  that  I  should  write  a 
book  on  the  subject.  The  Council  accepted  this  pro- 
posal ;  and  decided  that  the  book  should  be  written  for 
general  reading,  that  it  should  not  be  anonymous,  and 
that  it  should  be  published  without  reserve. 

It  was,  of  course,  a  doubtful  and  embarrassing  task. 
But,  from  twelve  years'  experience  of  the  things  said  by 
the  chief  opponents  of  all  experiments  on  animals,  I 
knew  that  there  was  only  one  wa^^  of  doing  it — to  give 
the  original  authorities,  the  plain  facts,  the  very  words, 
chapter  and  verse  for  everything. 

Among  those  who  kindly  revised  the  proofs  were 
Prof.  Rose  Bradford  and  Prof.  Starling,  who  revised 
Part  I.  ;  Mr.  Shattock,  who  revised  Part  II.  ;  and  Prof. 
Schafer.  Valuable  help  was  given  by  Mr.  R.  H.  Clarke, 
Sir  Victor  Horsle^^,  Dr.  Beevor,  Prof.  Ronald  Ross, 
and    the   late   Dr.   Washbourn  ;   and   I    was  allowed   to 


viii  PREFACE 

make  free  use  of  Mr.  George  Pernet's  careful  researches 
into  the  history  of  the  subject.  Lord  Lister  himself 
did  me  the  honour  to  read  and  correct,  with  the  utmost 
patience,  Parts  L  and  IL 

In  the  second  edition  (1904)  some  mistakes  were 
corrected,  and  some  facts  were  added. 

The  present  edition  has  been  thoroughly  revised  ; 
and  I  have  included  in  it  a  reprint,  with  some  changes 
and  omissions,  of  a  pamphlet,  The  Case  against  Anti- 
vivisection,  which    I    wrote   in    1904. 


1906. 


INTRODUCTION   TO   THE  FIRST 
EDITION 

This  work  by  Mr.  Paget  is  entirely  a  labour  of  love. 
Not  being  himself  engaged  in  researches  involving  ex- 
periments upon  the  lower  animals,  he  is  not  directly 
interested  in  the  subject.  But,  in  his  official  capacity 
as  Secretary  (i  887-1 899)  to  the  Association  for  the 
Advancement  of  Medicine  by  Research,  he  has  become 
widely  conversant  with  such  investigations,  and  has 
been  deeply  impressed  with  the  greatness  of  the 
benefits  which  they  ha\e  conferred  upon  mankind, 
and  the  grievous  mistake  that  is  made  by  those  who 
desire  to   suppress   them. 

The  action  of  these  well-meaning  persons  is  based 
upon  ignorance.  The^^  allow  that  man  is  permitted  to 
inflict  pain  upon  the  lower  animals  when  some  sub- 
stantial advantage  is  to  be  gained  ;  but  they  deny  that 
any  good  has  ever  resulted  from  the  researches  which 
they  condemn. 

How  far  such  statements  are  from  the  truth  will  be 
evident  to  those  who  peruse  this  book.  Its  earlier 
pages  deal  with  Physiology,  the  main  basis  of  all  sound 
medicine  and  surgery.  The  examples  given  in  this 
department  are  not  numerous  ;  they  are,  however,  suffi- 
ciently striking,  as  indications  that,  from  the  discovery 
of  the  circulation  of  the  blood  onwards,  our  knowledge 
of  healthy  animal  function  has  been  mainly  derived  from 
experiments  on  animals. 

«  b 


X    INTRODUCTION  TO  THE  FIRST  EDITION 

The  chief  bulk  of  the  work  is  devoted  to  the  class  of 
investigations  which  are  most  frequent  at  the  present 
day ;  and  it  shows  what  a  flood  of  light  has  been  already 
thrown  by  Bacteriology  upon  the  nature  of  human 
disease  and  the  means  of  combating  it. 

The  chapter  on  the  Action  of  Drugs  will  be  to  many 
a  startling  disclosure  of  the  gross  ignorance  that  pre- 
vailed among  physicians  even  in  the  earlier  part  of  last 
century.  The  great  revolution  that  has  since  taken 
place  is  no  doubt  largely  due  to  advances  in  sciences 
other  than  Biolog}^,  especially  Chemistry.  But  it  could 
not  have  attained  its  present  proportions  without  the 
ever-increasing  knowledge  of  Physiology,  based  on  ex- 
periments on  animals  ;  and  Mr.  Paget  shows  how  large 
a  share  these  have  had  in  the  direct  investigation  of 
articles  of  the  Materia  Medica. 

The  concluding  part  of  the  volume  discusses  the 
restrictions  which  have  been  placed  by  the  legislature 
in  this  country  on  those  engaged  in  these  researches, 
with  the  view  of  obviating  possible  abuse.  Whether 
the  Act  in  question  has  been  really  useful,  whether  it 
has  not  done  more  harm  than  good,  by  hampering  and 
sometimes  entirely  preventing  legitimate  and  beneficent 
investigation,  I  will  not  now  discuss. 

Meanwhile  I  commend  Mr.  Paget's  book  to  the  care- 
ful consideration  of  the  reader. 

LISTER. 


CONTENTS 


PART    I 

EXPERIMENTS    IN    PHYSIOLOGY 

The  Blood        .  '    . 
The  Lacteals    . 
The  Gastric  Juice  . 
Glycogen   . 
The  Pancreas  . 
The  Growth  of  Bone 


I. 
II. 

III. 

IV. 

V. 

VI. 
\TI.  The  Nervous  System 


PAGE 

3 

19 
24 
30 
36 

40 

44 


PART    II 

EXPERIMENTS    IN    PATHOLOGY,    MATERIA 
MEDICA,  AND    THERAPEUTICS 


I. 

Inflammation, 

Suppuratio^ 

V,      and 

Blood- 

Poisoning 

. 

75 

II. 

Anthrax     . 

^7 

III. 

Tubercle    . 

96 

IV. 

Diphtheria 

102 

V. 

Tetanus 

. 

128 

VI. 

Rabies 

. 

137 

VII. 

Cholera 

152 

VIII. 

Plague 

168 

IX. 

Typhoid  Fever; 

Malta  Fever     . 

, 

196 

X. 

The     Mosquito  :     Malaria,     Yellow 

Fever 

FiLARIASIS 

. 

214 

XL 

Parasitic  Diseases 

. 

243 

XII. 

Myxcedema 

, 

247 

XIII. 

The  Action  of  Drugs    .... 

251 

XIV. 

Snake-Venom    . 

. 

2;q 

xii  CONTENTS 


PART    III 

THE   ACT   RELATING   TO   EXPERIMENTS    ON   ANI- 
MALS   IN    GREAT   BRITAIN   AND    IRELAND 

PAGE 

I.  Text  of  the  Act 271 

II.  Anesthetics  under  the  Act        ....    281 
III.  Inspectors'  Report,  1905 283 


PART   IV 

THE   CASE   AGAINST   ANTI-VIVISECTION 

I.  Anti-Vivisection  Societies 297 

II.  Literature 313 

III.  Arguments 325 

IV.  "Our  Cause  in  Parliament"        ....  367 
V.  A  Historical  Parallel 371 

INDEX 377 


PART    I 

EXPERIMENTS   IX   PHYSIOLOGY 


EXPERIMENTS    ON    ANIMALS 

•     I 

THE    BLOOD 

I. — Before   Harvey 

Galen,  born  at  Pergamos,  131  a.d.,  proved  by  experi- 
ments on  animals  that  the  brain  is  as  warm  as  the 
heart,  against  the  AristoteHan  doctrine  that  the  office 
of  the  brain  is  to  keep  the  heart  cool.  He  also  proved 
that  the  arteries  during  life  contain  blood,  not  Trvevjua, 
or  the  breath  of  life  : — 

"  Ourselves,  having  tied  the  exposed  arteries  above 
and  below,  opened  them  between  the  ligatures,  and 
showed  that  they  were  indeed  full  of  blood." 

Though  all  vessels  bleed  when  they  are  wounded, 
yet  this  experiment  was  necessary  to  refute  the  fanciful 
teaching  of  Erasistratus  and  his  followers,  of  whom 
Galen  says  : — 

"  Erasistratus  is  pleased  to  believe  that  an  artery  is  a 
vessel  containing  the  breath  of  life,  and  a  vein  is  a  vessel 
containing  blood  ;  and  that  the  vessels,  dividing  again 
and  again,  come  at  last  to  be  so  small  that  they  can  close 
their  ultimate  pores,  and  keep  the  blood  controlled  within 
them ;  yea,  though  the  pores  of  the  vein  and  of  the  artery 


4  EXPERIMENTS  ON   ANIMALS 

lie  side  by  side,  yet  the  blood  remains  within  its  proper 
bounds,  nowhere  passing  into  the  vessels  of  the  breath  of 
life.  But  when  the  blood  is  driven  with  violence  from 
the  veins  into  the  arteries,  forthwith  there  is  disease;  and 
the  blood  is  poured  the  wrong  way  into  the  arteries,  and 
there  withstands  and  dashes  itself  against  the  breath  of 
life  coming  from  the  heart,  and  turns  the  course  of  it — 
and  this  forsooth  is  fever." 

For  many  centuries  after  Galen,  men  were  content  to 
worship  his  name  and  his  doctrines,  and  forsook  his 
method.  They  did  not  follow  the  way  of  experiment, 
and  invented  theories  that  were  no  help  either  in 
science  or  in  practice.  Here,  in  Galen's  observation  of 
living  arteries,  was  a  great  opportunity  for  physiology  ; 
but  the  example  that  he  set  to  those  who  came  after 
him  was  forgotten  by  them,  and,  from  the  time  of  Galen 
to  the  time  of  the  Renaissance,  physiology  remained 
almost  where  he  had  left  it.  Of  the  men  of  the  Re- 
naissance, Servetus,  Csesalpinus,  Ruinius,  and  others, 
Harvey's  near  predecessors,  this  much  only  need  be 
said  here,  that  they  did  not  discover  the  circulation  of 
the  blood  ;  and  that  the  claim  made  a  few  years  ago  to 
this  discovery,  on  behalf  of  Csesalpinus,  by  his  country- 
men, was  not  successful.  But  it  is  probable  that 
Realdus  (i  516-1557)  did  understand  the  passage  of 
blood  through  the  lungs,  but  not  the  general  circulation. 
He  says  : — 

"The  blood  is  carried  through  the  pulmonary  artery 
to  the  lung,  and  there  is  attenuated  ;  thence,  mixed  with 
air,  it  is  carried  through  the  pulmonary  vein  to  the  left 
ventricle  of  the  heart :  which  thing  no  man  hitherto  has 
noted  or  left  on  record,  though  it  is  most  worthy  of  the 
observation  of  all  men.  .  .  .  And  this  is  as  true  as  truth 
itself;  for  if  you  will  look,  not  only  in  the  dead  body  but 
also  in  the  living  animal,  you  will  always  find  this  pul- 


THE    BLOOD  5 

nionary  vein  full  of  blood,  which  assuredly  it  would  not 
be  if  it  were  designed  only  for  air  and  vapours.  .  .  . 
Verily,  I  pray  you,  O  candid  reader,  studious  of  authority, 
but  more  studious  of  truth,  to  make  experiment  on 
animals.  You  will  find  the  pulmonary  vein  full  of  blood, 
not  air  or  fuligo,  as  these  men  call  it,  God  help  them. 
Only  tliere  is  no  pulsation  in  the  vein."  [De  Re 
Anato})iicdy  Venice,  1559.) 

Fabricius  ab  Aquapendente,  Harvey's  master  at 
Padua,  published  his  work  on  the  valves  of  the  veins — 
Dc  Vciiariim  Ostiolis — in  1 603.  He  did  not  discover 
them.  Sylvius  speaks  of  them  in  his  Isagoge  (Venice, 
1555),  and  they  were  known  to  Amatus  (1552),  and 
even  to  Theodoretus,  Bishop  of  Syria,  who  lived,  as 
John  Hunter  said  of  Sennertus,  "  the  Lord  knows  how 
long  ago."  But  Fabricius  studied  them  most  carefully  ; 
and  in  anatomy  he  left  nothing  more  to  be  said  about 
them.  In  physiology,  his  work  was  of  little  value  ; 
for  he  held  that  they  were  designed  ''  to  retard  the 
blood  in  some  measure,  lest  it  should  run  pell-mell  into 
the  feet,  hands,  and  fingers,  there  to  be  impacted  "  :  they 
were  to  prevent  distension  of  the  veins,  and  to  ensure 
the  due  nourishment  of  all  parts  of  the  body.  It  is  true 
that  he  compared  them  to  the  locks  or  weirs  of  a  river, 
but  he  understood  neither  the  course  nor  the  force  of 
the  blood  :  as  Harvey  said  of  him,  "  The  man  who  dis- 
covered these  valves  did  not  understand  their  right 
use  ;  neither  did  they  who  came  after  him  " — Harunt 
valvidarmn  ttsum  rectum  inventor  non  est  assecutiis,  nee 
alii  addiderunt ;  non  est  enim  ne  pondere  deorsum  sanguis 
in  inferiora  totus  ruat;  sunt  namque  in  jugularibus  deorsum 
spectantesy  et  sanguinem  sursum  ferri  prohibentes.  Men 
had  no  idea  of  the  rapidity  and  volume  of  the  circulation; 
they  thought  of  a  sort  of  Stygian  tide,  oozing  this  way 


6  EXPERIMENTS   ON   ANIMALS 

or  that  way  in  the  vessels — Caesalpinus  was  of  opinion 
that  it  went  one  way  in  the  daytime  and  another  at 
night — nor  did  they  see  that  the  pulmonary  circulation 
and  the  general  circulation  are  one  system,  the  same 
blood  covering  the  whole  course.  The  work  that  they 
did  in  anatomy  was  magnificent  ;  Vesalius,  and  the 
other  great  anatomists  of  his  time,  are  unsurpassed. 
But  physiology  had  been  hindered  for  ages  by  fantastic 
imaginings,  and  the  facts  of  the  circulation  of  the  blood 
were  almost  as  far  from  their  interpretation  in  the  six- 
teenth century  as  they  had  been  in  the  time  of  Galen. 

II. — Harvey  (i  578-1657) 

The  De  Motii  Cordis  et  Sanguinis  in  Animalibiis  was 
published  at  Frankfurt  in  1628.  And  it  begins  with 
these  words  :  Cum  miiltis  vivorum  dissectionibus,  iiti  ad 
manuni  dahantiir : — 

"When  by  many  dissections  of  living  animals,  as  they 
came  to  hand,  I  first  gave  myself  to  observing  how  I 
might  discover  with  my  own  eyes,  and  not  from  books 
and  the  writings  of  other  men,  the  use  and  purpose  of 
the  movement  of  the  heart  in  animals,  forthwith  I  found 
the  matter  hard  indeed,  and  full  of  difficulty :  so  that  I 
began  to  think,  with  Frascatorius,  that  the  movement  of 
the  heart  was  known  to  God  alone.  For  I  could  not 
distinguish  aright  either  the  nature  of  its  systole  and 
diastole,  or  when  or  where  dilatation  and  contraction  took 
place ;  and  this  because  of  the  swiftness  of  the  move- 
ment, which  in  many  animals  in  the  twinkling  of  an  eye, 
like  a  flash  of  lightning,  revealed  itself  to  sight  and  then 
was  gone;  so  that  I  came  to  believe  that  I  saw  systole 
and  diastole  now  this  way  now  the  other,  and  movements 
now  apart  and  now  together.  Wherefore  my  mind 
wavered  ;  I  had  nothing  assured  to  me,  whether  decided 
by  me  or  taken  from  other  men :  and  I  did  not  wonder 


THE    BLOOD  7 

that  Andreas  Laurcntius  liad  written  that  the  movement 
of  the  heart  was  what  the  ebb  and  flow  of  the  Euripus 
had  been  to  Aristotle. 

"At  last,  having  daily  used  greater  disquisition  and 
diligence,  by  frequent  examination  of  many  and  various 
living  animals — inulta  frequenter  et  varia  animalia  viva 
iiitrospicicndo — and  many  observations  put  together,  I 
came  to  believe  that  I  had  succeeded,  and  had  escaped 
and  got  out  of  this  labyrinth,  and  therewith  had  dis- 
covered what  I  desired,  the  movement  and  use  of  the 
heart  and  the  arteries.  And  from  that  time,  not  only 
to  my  friends,  but  also  in  public  in  my  anatomical 
lectures,  after  the  manner  of  the  Academy,  I  did  not 
fear  to  set  forth  my  opinion  in  this  matter." 

It  is  plain,  from  Harvey's  own  words,  that  he  gives 
to  experiments  on  animals  a  foremost  place  among  his 
methods  of  work.  Take  only  the  headings  of  his  first 
four  chapters  : — 

i.    Causa',  quibiis  ad  scribendum  auctor  permotus  fuerit. 
ii.  Ex  vivorum  dissedione,  qualis  fit  cordis  motus. 
iii.   Arteriarum  motus  qualis,  ex  vivorum  dissedione. 
iv.  Motus  cordis    et    auriculariim    qualis,    ex   vivorum 
dissedione. 
He   thrusts   it    on    us,   he    puts   it    in   the    foreground. 
Read  the  end  of  his  Preface  : — 

"  Therefore,  from  these  and  many  more  things  of  the 
kind,  it  is  plain  (since  what  has  been  said  by  men  before 
me,  of  the  movement  and  use  of  the  heart  and  arteries, 
appears  inconsistent  or  obscure  or  impossible  when  one 
carefully  considers  it)  that  we  shall  do  well  to  look  deeper 
into  the  matter ;  to  observe  the  movements  of  the  arteries 
and  the  heart,  not  only  in  man,  but  in  all  animals  that 
have  hearts  ;  and  by  frequent  dissection  of  living  animals, 
and  much  use  of  our  own  eyes,  to  discern  and  investi- 
gate the  truth — vivorum  dissedione  frequenti,  multdque 
autopsid,  veritatem  discernere  et  investigare.^^ 


8  EXPERIMENTS   ON   ANIMALS 

Finally,  take  the  famous  passage  in  the  eighth  chapter, 
De  copkl  sangiibiis  transeuntis  per  cor  e  vents  in  arierias^ 
et  de  circulari  motii  sanguinis  : — 

"And  now,  as  for  the  great  quantity  and  forward 
movement  of  this  blood  on  its  way,  when  I  shall  have 
said  what  things  remain  to  be  said — though  they  are  well 
worth  considering,  yet  they  are  so  new  and  strange  that 
I  not  onl}'  fear  harm  from  the  envy  of  certain  men,  but 
am  afraid  lest  I  make  all  men  my  enemies ;  so  does 
custom,  or  a  doctrine  once  imbibed  and  fixed  down  by 
deep  roots,  like  second  nature,  hold  good  among  all  men, 
and  reverence  for  antiquit}^  constrains  them.  Be  that  as 
it  ma3%  the  die  is  cast  now  :  my  hope  is  in  the  love  of 
truth,  and  the  candour  of  learned  minds.  I  bethought 
me  how  great  was  the  quantity'  of  this  blood.  Both  from 
the  dissection  of  living  animals  for  the  sake  of  experi- 
ment, with  opening  of  the  arteries,  with  observations 
manifold ;  and  from  the  symmetr\'  of  the  size  of  the 
ventricles,  and  of  the  vessels  entering  and  leaving  the 
heart — because  Nature,  doing  nothing  in  vain,  cannot  in 
vain  have  given  such  size  to  these  vessels  above  the  rest 
— and  from  the  harmonious  and  happy  device  of  the 
valves  and  fibres,  and  all  other  fabric  of  the  heart ;  and 
from  many  other  things — when  I  had  again  and  again 
carefully  considered  it  all,  and  had  turned  it  over  in  my 
mind  many  times — I  mean  the  great  quantit}'  of  the  blood 
passing  through,  and  the  swiftness  of  its  passage — and 
I  did  not  see  how  the  juices  of  the  food  in  the  stomach 
could  help  the  veins  from  being  emptied  and  drained  dr}^ 
and  the  arteries  contrariwise  from  being  ruptured  by  the 
excessive  flow  of  blood  into  them,  unless  blood  were 
always  getting  round  from  the  arteries  into  the  veins, 
and  so  back  to  the  right  ventricle — I  began  to  think  to 
myself  whether  the  blood  had  a  certain  movement,  as  in 
a  circle — coepi  egoinet  mecum  cogitare,  an  motionem  quan- 
dai}i  quasi  i7i  circulo  haberet — which  afterward  I  found 
was  true." 


THE    BLOOD  9 

This  vehement  passage,  which  goes  with  a  rush  hkc 
that  of  the  blood  itself,  is  a  good  example  of  the  width 
and  depth  of  Harvey's  work — how  he  used  all  methods 
that  were  open  to  him.  He  lived  to  fourscore  years  ; 
"  an  old  man,"  he  says,  ^'  far  advanced  in  years,  and 
occupied  with  other  cares "  :  and,  near  the  end  of  his 
life,  he  told  the  Hon.  Robert  Boyle  that  the  arrange- 
ment of  the  valves  of  the  veins  had  given  him  his  first 
idea  of  the  circulation  of  the  blood  : — 

"  I  remember  that  wlien  I  asked  our  famous  Harvey, 
in  the  only  discourse  I  had  with  him,  which  was  but  a 
while  befoi"e  he  died,  what  were  the  things  which  induced 
him  to  think  of  the  circulation  of  the  blood,  he  answered 
me  that  when  he  took  notice  ^hat  the  valves  in  the  veins 
of  so  many  parts  of  the  body  were  so  placed  that  they 
gave  free  passage  of  the  blood  towards  the  heart,  but 
opposed  the  passage  of  the  venal  blood  the  contrary  way, 
he  was  invited  to  imagine  that  so  provident  a  cause  as 
Nature  had  not  so  placed  so  many  valves  without  design ; 
and  no  design  seemed  more  probable  than  that,  since  the 
blood  could  not  well,  because  of  the  interposing  valves, 
be  sent  by  the  veins  to  the  limbs,  it  should  be  sent  by  the 
arteries,  and  return  through  the  veins,  whose  valves  did 
not  oppose  its  course  that  way." 

But  between  this  observation,  which  ^'  invited  him 
to  imagine "  a  theory,  and  his  final  proofs  of  the 
circulation,  lay  a  host  of  difficulties  ;  and  it  is  certain, 
from  his  own  account  of  his  work,  that  experiments 
on  animals  were  of  the  utmost  help  to  him  in  leading 
him  "  out  of  the  labyrinth." 

HI. — After   Harvey 

I.   The  Capillaries 

The  capillary  vessels  were  not  known  in  Harvey's 
time :    the    capillamenta    of   Cccsalpinus    were    not    the 


lo  EXPERIMENTS   ON    ANIMALS 

capillaries,  but  the  pevpa  of  Aristotle.  It  was  believed 
that  the  blood,  between  the  smallest  arteries  and  the 
smallest  veins,  made  its  way  through  "  blind  porosi- 
ties "  in  the  tissues,  as  water  percolates  through  earth 
or  through  a  sponge.  The  first  account  of  the  capil- 
laries is  in  two  letters  (Dc  Pu/niojtidns,  1661)  from 
Malpighi,  professor  of  medicine  at  Bologna,  to  Borelli, 
professor  of  mathematics  at  Pisa.  In  his  first  letter, 
Malpighi  writes  that  he  has  tried  in  vain,  by  injecting 
the  dead  body,  to  discover  how  the  blood  passes  from 
the  arteries  into  the  veins  : — 

''  This  enigma  hitherto  distracts  my  mind,  though  for 
its  solution  I  have  made  many  and  many  attempts,  all 
in  vain,  with  air  and  various  coloured  fluids.  Having 
injected  ink  with  a  syringe  into  the  pulmonary  artery,  I 
have  again  and  again  seen  it  escape  (become  extravasated 
into  the  tissues)  at  several  points.  The  same  thing 
happens  with  an  injection  of  mercury.  These  experi- 
ments do  not  give  us  the  natural  pathway  of  the  blood." 

But,  in  his  second  letter,  he  describes  how  he  has 
examined,  with  a  microscope  of  two  lenses,  the  lung 
and  the  mesentery  of  a  frog,  and  has  seen  the  capil- 
laries, and  the  blood  in  them  : — 

*'  Such  is  the  divarication  of  these  little  vessels,  coming 
off  from  the  vein  and  the  artery,  that  the  order  in  which 
the  vessel  ramifies  is  no  longer  preserved,  but  it  looks 
like  a  network  v/oven  from  the  offshoots  of  both  vessels." 

He  was  able,  in  a  dead  frog,  to  see  the  capillaries  ; 
and  then,  in  a  living  frog,  to  see  the  blood  moving  in 
them.  But,  in  spite  of  this  work,  it  took  nearly  half 
a  centur}'  before  Harvey's  teaching  was  believed  by  all 
men — Tauttun  consiietudo  apiid  onuics  valet. 


THE    BLOOD  ii 

2.    The  Blood-pressure 

Harvey  had  seen  the  facts  of  blood-pressure — the 
great  quantity  of  blood  passing  through,  and  the  swiftness 
of  its  passage — but  he  had  not  measured  it.  Keill's 
experiments  on  the  blood-pressure  (1718)  were  inexact, 
and  of  no  value  ;  and  the  first  exact  measurements 
were  made  by  Stephen  Hales,  who  was  rector  of 
Farringdon,  Hampshire,  and  minister  of  Teddington, 
Middlesex  ;  a  Doctor  of  Divinity,  and  a  Fellow  of  the 
Ro3'al  Society.  His  experiments,  in  their  width  and 
diversity,  were  not  surpassed  even  by  those  of  John 
Hunter,  and  were  extended  far  over  physiology,  vege- 
table physiology,  organic  and  inorganic  chemistry,  and 
physics  ;  they  ranged  from  the  invention  of  a  sea-gauge 
to  the  study  of  solvents  for  the  stone,  and  he  seems 
to  have  experimented  on  ever}'  force  in  Nature.  The 
titles  of  his  two  volumes  of  Statical  Essays  (172  6- 1733) 
show  the  great  extent  of  his  non-clerical  work  : — 

\^olume  I.  Statical  Essays,  containi)ig  Vegetable  Staticsy 
or  an  Account  of  some  Statical  Experiniods  on  the  Sap  in 
Vegetables,  being  an  Essay  tcnvards  a  Natural  History  of 
Vegetation  ;  also,  a  Specimen  of  an  Attempt  to  Analyse  the 
Air,  by  a  great  Variety  of  Chymio- Statical  Experiments. 

Volume  n.  Statical  Essays,  containing  Hcomostatics,  or 
an  Account  of  some  Hydraulic  and  Hydrostalical  Experi- 
ments made  on  the  Blood  and  Blood-vessels  of  Animals ; 
also,  an  Account  of  some  Expgriinoits  on  Stones  in  the 
Kidneys  and  Bladdery  with  an  Enquiry  into  the  Nature  of 
those  anomalous  Concretions* 

*^  We  can  never  want  matter  for  new  experiments," 
he  says  in  his  preface.  "  We  are  as  yet  got  little  further 
than  to  the  surface  of  things :   we  must  be  content,  in 


12  EXPERIMENTS   ON    ANIMALS 

this  our  infant  state  of  knowledge,  while  we  know  in  part 
only,  to  imitate  children,  who,  for  want  of  better  skill 
and  abilities,  and  of  more  proper  materials,  amuse  them- 
selves with  slight  buildings.  The  farther  advances  we 
make  in  the  knowledge  of  Nature,  the  more  probable  and 
the  nearer  to  truth  will  our  conjectures  approach  :  so  that 
succeeding  generations,  who  shall  have  the  benefit  and 
advantage  both  of  their  own  observations  and  those  of 
preceding  generations,  may  then  make  considerable  ad- 
vances, when  nta7iy  shall  7'un  to  and  fro  ^  and  knowledge 
shall  be  increasedr 

His  account  of  his  plan  of  measuring  the  blood- 
pressure,  and  of  one  of  many  experiments  that  he  made 
on  it,  is  as  follows : — 

"  Finding  but  little  satisfaction  in  what  had  been 
attempted  on  this  subject  by  Borellus  and  others,  I 
endeavoured,  about  twenty-five  years  since,  by  proper 
experiments,  to  find  what  was  the  real  force  of  the  blood 
in  the  crural  arteries  of  dogs,  and  about  six  years  after- 
wards I  repeated  the  like  experiments  on  two  horses,  and 
a  fallow  doe ;  but  did  not  then  pursue  the  matter  any 
further,  being  discouraged  by  the  disagreeableness  of 
anatomical  dissections.  But  having  of  late  years  found 
by  experience  the  advantage  of  making  use  of  the  statical 
way  of  investigation,  not  only  in  our  researches  into  the 
nature  of  vegetables,  but  also  in  the  chymical  analysis 
of  the  air,  I  was  induced  to  hope  for  some  success,  if 
the  same  method  of  enquiry  were  applied  to  animal 
bodies.  .   .   . 

''  Having  laid  open  the  left  crural  arter}'  (of  a  mare), 
I  inserted  into  it  a  brass  pipe  whose  bore  was  \  of  an 
inch  in  diameter ;  and  to  that,  by  means  of  another  brass 
pipe  which  was  fitly  adapted  to  it,  I  fixed  a  glass  tube  of 
nearly  the  same  diameter,  which  was  9  feet  in  length ; 
then,  untying  the  ligature  on  the  artery,  the  blood  rose 
in  the  tube  8  feet  3  inches  perpendicular  above  the  level 
of  the  left  ventricle  of  the  heart,  but  it   did   not  attain 


THE    BLOOD  13 

to  its  full  height  at  once:  it  rushed  up  gradually  at  each 
pulse  12,  8,  6,  4,  2,  and  sometimes  i  inch.  When  it  was 
at  its  full  height,  it  would  rise  and  fall  at  and  after  each 
pulse  2,  3,  or  4  inches,  and  sometimes  it  would  fall  12  or 
14  inches,  and  have  there  for  a  time  the  same  vibrations 
up  and  down,  at  and  after  each  pulse,  as  it  had  when 
it  was  at  its  full  height,  to  which  it  would  rise  again, 
after  forty  or  fifty  pulses." 

3.    The  Collateral  Circulation 

After  Hales,  came  John  Hunter,  who  was  five  3'ears 
old  when  the  Statical  Essays  were  published.  His  ex- 
periments on  the  blood  w^ere  mostly  concerned  with  its 
properties,  not  with  its  course  ;  but  one  great  experi- 
ment must  be  noted  here  that  puts  him  in  line  with 
Harve}^,  Malpighi,  and  Hales.  He  got  from  it  his 
knowledge  of  the  collateral  circulation;  he  learned  how 
the  obstruction  of  an  artery  is  followed  by  enlargement 
of  the  vessels  in  its  neighbouihood,  so  that  the  parts 
beyond  the  obstruction  do  not  suffer  from  want  of 
blood  :  and  the  facts  of  collateral  circulation  were  fresh 
in  his  mind  when,  a  few  months  later,  he  conceived  and 
performed  his  operation  for  aneurysm  (December  1785). 
The  "  old  operation "  gave  him  no  help  here ;  and 
"  Anel's  operation  "  was  but  a  single  instance,  and  no 
sure  guide  for  Hunter,  because  Anel's  patient  had  a 
different  sort  of  aneurysm.  Hunter  knew  that  the 
collateral  circulation  could  be  trusted  to  nourish  the 
limb,  if  the  femoral  artery  were  ligatured  in  "  Hunter's 
canal "  for  the  cure  of  popliteal  aneurysm ;  and  he 
got  this  knowledge  from  the  experiment  that  he  had 
made  on  one  of  the  deer  in  Richmond  Park,  to  see 
the  influence  of  ligature  of  the  carotid  artery  on  the 
growth   of  the   antler.      The   following  account   of  this 


14  EXPERIMENTS   ON    ANIMALS 

experiment  was  given  by  Sir  Richard  Owen,  who  had  it 
from  Mr.  Clift,  Hunter's  devoted  pupil  and  friend  : — 

''  In  the  month  of  July,  when  the  bucks'  antlers  were 
half-grown,  he  caused  one  of  them  to  be  caught  and 
thrown ;  and,  knowing  the  arterial  supply  to  the  hot 
'velvet,'  as  the  keepers  call  it,  Hunter  cut  down  upon  and 
tied  the  external  carotid  ;  upon  which,  laying  his  hand 
upon  the  antler,  he  found  that  the  pulsations  of  the 
arterial  channels  stopped,  and  the  surface  soon  grew 
cold.  The  buck  was  released,  and  Hunter  speculated  on 
the  result — whether  the  antler,  arrested  at  mid-growth, 
would  be  shed  like  the  full-grown  one,  or  be  longer 
retained.  A  week  or  so  afterward  he  drove  down  again 
to  the  park,  and  caused  the  buck  to  be  caught  and  thrown. 
The  wound  was  healed  about  the  ligature ;  but  on  laying 
his  hand  on  the  antler,  he  found  to  his  surprise  that  the 
warmth  had  returned,  and  the  channels  of  supply  to  the 
velvety  formative  covering  were  again  pulsating.  His 
first  impression  was  that  his  operation  had  been  defective. 
To  test  this,  he  had  the  buck  killed  and  sent  to  Leicester 
Square.  The  arterial  system  was  injected.  Hunter 
found  that  the  external  carotid  had  been  duly  tied.  But 
certain  small  branches,  coming  off  on  the  proximal  or 
heart's  side  of  the  ligature,  had  enlarged  ;  and,  tracing-on 
these,  he  found  that  they  had  anastomosed  with  other 
small  branches  from  the  distal  continuation  of  the  carotid, 
and  these  new  channels  had  restored  the  supply  to  the 
growing  antler.  .  .  .  Here  was  a  consequence  of  his 
experiment  he  had  not  at  all  foreseen  or  expected.  A 
new  property  of  the  living  arteries  was  unfolded  to 
him." 

All  the  anatomists  had  overlooked  this  physiological 
change  in  the  living  body,  brought  about  by  disease. 
And  the  surgeons,  since  anatomy  could  not  help  them, 
had  been  driven  by  the  mortality  of  the  "  old  operation  " 
to  the  practice  of  amputation. 


THE    BLOOD  15 

4.   The  Mercurial  Manometer 

Hale's  experiments  on  the  blood-pressure  were  ad- 
mirable in  their  time  ;  but  neither  he  nor  his  successors 
could  take  into  account  all  the  physiological  and  mathe- 
matical facts  of  the  case.  But  a  great  advance  was 
made  in  1828,  when  Poiseuille  published  his  thesis, 
Stir  la  Force  du  Caiir  Aortiqne,  with  a  description  of 
the  mercurial  manometer.  Poiseuille  had  begun  with  the 
received  idea  that  the  blood-pressure  in  the  arteries 
would  vary  according  fo  the  distance  from  the  heart, 
but  he  found  by  experiment  that  this  doctrine  was 
wrong  : — 

"At  my  first  experiments,  wishing  to  make  sure 
whether  the  opinions,  given  a  priori,  were  true,  I  ob- 
served to  my  great  astonishment  that  two  tubes,  applied 
at  the  same  time  to  two  arteries  at  different  distances 
from  the  heart,  gave  columns  of  exacth^  the  same  height, 
and  not,  as  I  had  expected,  of  different  heights.  This 
made  the  work  ver}'  much  simpler,  because,  to  whatever 
artery  I  applied  the  instrument,  I  obtained  the  same 
results  that  I  should  have  got  by  placing  it  on  the 
ascending  aorta  itself." 

He  found  also,  by  experiments,  that  the  coagulation 
of  the  blood  in  the  tube  could  be  prevented  by  filling 
one  part  of  the  tube  with  a  saturated  solution  of 
sodium  carbonate.  The  tube,  thus  prepared,  was  con- 
nected with  the  artery  by  a  fine  cannula,  exactly  fitting 
the  artery.  With  this  instrument,  Poiseuille  was  able 
to  obtain  results  far  more  accurate  than  those  of  Hales, 
and  to  observe  the  diverse  influences  of  the  respiratory 
movements  on  the  blood-pressure.  He  sums  up  his 
results   in   these  words  : — 

**  I  come  to  this  irrevocable  conclusion,  that  the  force 
with  which  a  molecule  of  blood  moves,  whether  in  the 


i6  EXPERIMENTS    ON    ANIMALS 

carotid,  or  in  the  aorta,  etc.,  is  exactly  equal  to  the  force 
which  moves  a  molecule  in  the  smallest  arterial  branch ; 
or,  in  other  words,  that  a  molecule  of  blood  moves  with 
the  same  force  over  the  whole  course  of  the  arterial 
system — which,  a  priori^  with  all  the  physiologists,  I  was 
far  from  thinking." 

And  he  adds,  in  a  footnote  : — 

"  When  I  say  that  this  force  is  the  same  over  the 
whole  course  of  the  arterial  system,  I  do  not  mean  to 
deny  that  it  must  needs  be  modified  at  certain  points  of 
this  system,  which  present  a  special  arrangement,  such  as 
the  anastomosing  arches  of  the  mesentery,  the  arterial 
circle  of  Willis,  etc." 

Later,  in  1835,  he  published  a  very  valuable  memoir 
on  the  movement  of  the  blood  in  the  capillaries  under 
different  conditions  of  heat,  cold,  and  atmospheric 
pressure. 

5 .  The  Registration  of  the  Blood-pressure 

Poiseuille's  work,  in  its  turn,  was  left  behind  as 
physiology  went  forward  :  especially,  the  discovery  of 
the  vaso-motor  nerves  compelled  physiologists  to  re- 
consider the  whole  subject  of  the  blood-pressure.  If 
Poiseuille's  thesis  (1828)  be  compared  with  Marey's 
book  (1863),  Physiologie  Medicate  de  la  Circidation  du 
Sang,  it  will  be  evident  at  once  how  much  wider  and 
deeper  the  problem  had  become.  Poiseuille's  thesis  is 
chiefly  concerned  with  mathematics  and  hydrostatics  ; 
it  suggests  no  method  of  immediate  permanent  registra- 
tion of  the  pulse,  and  is  of  no  great  value  to  practical 
medicine  :  Marey's  book,  by  its  very  title,  shows  w^iat 
a  long  advance  had  been  made  between  1828  and 
1863 — Physiologie  Medicate  de  la  Circidation  du  Sang, 
basee  sur  l' etude  graphique  des  mouvements  du  cccur  et  du 


THE    BLOOD  17 

poiils  artericl,  avec  application  aux  maladies  de  I'appareil 
circulatoite.  Though  the  contrast  is  great  between 
Hales'  may-pole  and  Poiseuille's  manometer,  there  is 
even  a  greater  contrast  between  Poiseuille's  mathe- 
matical calculations  and  Marey's  practical  use  of  the 
sphygmograph  for  the  study  of  the  blood-pressure  in 
health  and  disease.  Marey  had  the  happiness  of  seeing 
medicine,  physiology,  and  physics,  all  three  of  them 
working   to   one   end  : — 

"  La  circulation  du  sang  est  un  des  sujets  pour  lesquels 
la  medecine  a  le  plus  besoin  de  s'eclairer  de  la  physiologic, 
et  ou  celle-ci  a  son  tour  tire  le  plus  de  lumiere  des  sciences 
physiques.  Ces  dernieres  annees  sont  marquees  par  deux 
grands  progres  qui  ouvrent  aux  recherches  a  venir  des 
horizons  nouveaux  :  en  Allemagne,  I'introduction  des  pro- 
cedes  graphiques  dans  I'etude  du  mouvement  du  sang; 
en  France,  la  demonstration  de  I'influence  du  svsteme 
nerveux  sur  la  circulation  peripherique.  Cette  derniere 
decouverte,  que  nous  devons  a  M.  CI.  Bernard,  et  qui 
depuis  dix  ans  a  donne  tant  d'impulsion  a  la  science, 
montre  mieux  que  toute  autre  combien  la  physiologic  est 
indispensable  a  la  medecine,  tandis  que  les  travaux 
allemands  ont  bien  fait  ressortir  I'importancc  des  con- 
naissances  physiques  dans  les  etudes  medicales." 

Marey's  sphygmograph  was  not  the  first  instrument 
of  its  kind.  There  had  been,  before  it,  Herisson's 
sphygmometer,  Ludwig's  kymographion,  and  the 
sphygmographs  of  Volckmann,  King,  and  Vierordt. 
But,  if  one  compares  a  \'ierordt  tracing  with  a  Marey 
tracing,  it  will  be  plain  that  Marey's  results  were  far 
advanced  beyond  the  useless  "  oscillations  isochrones  " 
recorded  by  Vierordt's  instrument. 

Beside  this  improved  sph3^gmograph,  Chauveau  and 
Marey  also  invented  the  cardiograph,  for  the  obser\"a- 
tion   of  the   blood-pressure   within   the  cavities    of  the 

B 


i8  EXPERIMENTS   ON    ANIMALS 

heart.  Their  cardiograph  was  a  set  of  very  delicate 
elastic  tambours,  resting  on  the  heart,  or  passed  through 
fine  tubes  into  the  cavities  of  the  heart,^  and  com- 
municating impulses  to  levers  with  writing-points. 
These  writing-points,  touching  a  revolving  cylinder, 
recorded  the  variations  of  the  endocardial  pressure, 
and  the  duiation  of  the  auricular  and  ventricular  con- 
tractions. 


It  is  impossible  here  to  describe  the  subsequent 
study  of  those  more  abstruse  problems  that  the  older 
physiologists  had  not  so  much  as  thought  of :  the 
minutest  variations  of  the  blood-pressure,  the  multiple 
influences  of  the  nervous  s^'^stemi  on  the  heart  and 
blood-vessels,  the  relations  between  blood-pressure  and 
secretion,  the  automatism  of  the  heart-beat,  the  influence 
of  gravitation,  and  other  finer  and  more  complex  issues 
of  physiolog3^  But,  even  if  one  stops  at  Marey's  book, 
now  more  than  forty  years  old,  there  is  an  abundant 
record  of  good  work,  from  the  discover}'  of  the  circula- 
tion to  the  invention  of  the  sphygmograph. 

^  "  On  peut  s'assurer  de  Pinnocuite  de  ce  premier  temps  de 
I'experience  en  examinant  I'animal,  qui  n'est  nullement  trouble, 
qui  marche  et  mange  comme  de  coutume.  En  comptant  le 
chittre  du  pouls,  on  trouve  quelquefois  une  legere  acceleration, 
surtout  dans  les  premiers  instants  ;  mais  les  mouvements  du 
ccEur  sent  toujours  reguliers,  et  donnent,  a  I'auscultation,  des 
bruits  d'un  caractere  normal."     (Marey,  loc.  cit.  p.  63.) 


II 

THE  LACTEALS 

AsELLius,  in  his  account. of  his  discovery  of  the  lacteal 
vessels  (1622),  is  of  opinion  that  certain  of  "the 
ancients  "  had  seen  these  vessels,  but  had  not  recognised 
them.  He  has  a  great  reverence  for  authority  :  Hippo- 
crates, Plato,  Aristotle,  the  Stoics,  Herophilus,  Galen, 
Pollux,  Rhases,  and  a  host  of  other  names,  he  quotes 
them  all,  and  all  with  profound  respect ;  and  comes  to 
this  conclusion  :  "  It  did  not  escape  the  ancients,  that 
certain  vessels  must  needs  be  concerned  with  contain- 
ing and  carrying  the  chyle,  and  certain  other  vessels 
with  the  blood  :  but  the  true  and  verj'  vessels  of  the 
chyle,  that  is,  m^'  '  veins,'  though  the^'  were  seen  b}- 
some  of  the  ancients,  yet  they  were  recognised  by 
none  of  them."  He  can  forgive  them  all,  except 
Galen,  qui  videtiir  fiossc  oduiiho  debuisse — ''  but,  as  for 
Galen,  I  know  not  at  all  what  I  am  to  think.  For 
he,  who  made  more  than  six  hundred  sections  of  living 
animals,  as  he  boasts  himself,  and  so  often  opened 
many  animals  when  they  were  lateh'  fed,  are  we  to 
think  it  possible  that  these  veins  never  showed  them- 
selves to  him,  that  he  never  had  them  under  his  eyes, 
that  he  never  investigated  them — he  to  whom  Erasi- 
stratus  had  given  so  great  cause  for  searching  out  the 
whole  matter  ?  "  Probabl}',  the  milk-white  threads  had 
been    taken   for   nerves   by   those  who   had   seen   them  : 


20  EXPERIMENTS   ON    ANIMALS 

and  those  who  had  never  seen  them,  but  believed  in 
their  existence,  rested  their  beHef  on  a  general  idea 
that  the  chyle  must,  somehov^,  have  vessels  of  its  own 
apart  from  the  blood-vessels.  What  Galen  and  Erasi- 
stratus  must  have  seen,  Asellius  and  Pecquet  discovered  : 
and  Harvey  gives  a  careful  review  of  the  discovery 
in  his  letters  to  Nardi  (May  1652)  and  to  Morison 
(November  1653).  He  does  not  accept  it;  but  the 
point  is  that  he  recognises  it  as  a  new  thing  altogether. 
A  year  or  two  after  he  had  made  the  discovery, 
Asellius  died;  and  his  work  was  published  in  1627 
by  two  Milanese  physicians,  and  was  dedicated  by 
them  to  the  senate  of  the  Academy  of  Milan,  where 
Asellius  had  been  professor  of  anatomy.  The  full 
title  of  his  book  is,  De  Ladibiis  sive  Lacteis  Vents, 
quarto  Vasorum  Mesaraicorum  genere  novo  invento, 
Gasparis  Asellii  Cremonensis,  Anatomici  Ticinensisy 
Dissertatio.  Qua  sententice  anatomicce  multce  vel  per- 
peram  receptee  convelluntur  vel  partim  pcrceptoe  illustrantur. 
He  gives  the  following  account  of  the  discovery,  in 
the  chapter  entitled  Historia  primce  vasorum  istoruni 
inventionis  cum  fide  narrata.  On  23rd  July  1622, 
demonstrating  the  movement  of  the  diaphragm  in  a 
dog,  he  observed  suddenly,  "  as  it  were,  many  threads, 
very  thin  and  very  white,  dispersed  through  the  whole 
mesentery  and  through  the  intestines,  with  ramifications 
almost  endless  " — plurimos,  eosque  tenuissimos  candido- 
sissimosque  ceu  funiculos  per  omne  mesenterium  et  per 
intestina  infinitis  propemodum  propaginibus  dispersos  : — 

"  Thinking  at  first  sight  that  they  were  nerves,  I  did 
not  greatly  heed  them.  But  soon  I  saw  that  I  was 
wrong,  for  I  bethought  me  that  the  nerves,  which  belong 
to  the  intestines,   are  distinct  from  these   threads,   and 


THE    LACTP:ALS  21 

very  different  from  them,  and  have  a  separate  course. 
Wherefore,  struck  by  the  newness  of  the  matter,  I 
stopped  for  a  time  silent,  while  one  way  and  another 
there  came  to  my  mind  the  controversies  that  occupy 
anatomists,  as  to  the  mesenteric  veins  and  their  use; 
which  controversies  are  as  full  of  quarrels  as  of  words. 
When  I  had  pulled  myself  together,  to  make  experiment, 
taking  a  very  sharp  scalpel,  I  pierce  one  of  the  larger 
threads.  Scarcely  had  I  hit  it  off,  when  I  see  a  white 
fluid  running  out,  like  milk  or  cream.  At  which  sight, 
when  I  could  not  hold  -my  joy,  turning  to  those  who 
were  there,  first  to  Alexander  Tadinus  and  Senator 
Septalius,  both  of  them  members  of  the  most  honour- 
able College  of  Physicians,  and,  at  the  time  of  this 
writing,  officers  of  the  public  health,  '/  have  found  ity 
I  say  like  Archimedes  ;  and  therewith  invite  them  to 
the  so  pleasant  sight  of  a  thing  so  unwonted  ;  they  being 
agitated,  like  myself,  by  the  newness  of  it." 

He  then  describes  the  collapse  and  disappearance 
of  the  vessels  at  death,  and  the  many  experiments 
which  he  made  for  further  study  of  them  ;  and  the 
failure,  when  he  tried  to  find  them  in  animals  not  lately 
fed.  He  did  not  trace  them  beyond  the  mesentery, 
and  believed  that  they  emptied  themselves  into  the  liver. 
The  discovery  of  their  connection  with  the  recepta- 
culum  chyli  and  the  thoracic  duct  was  made  by  Jehan 
Pecquet  of  Dieppe,  Madame  de  Sevigne's  doctor,  her 
"good  little  Pecquet."  The  full  title  of  his  book  (2nd 
ed.,  1654)  is,  Experimenta  Nova  Anaiomica,  qidhus  in- 
cognitiun  hactemis  Receptacttltim,  et  ab  eo  per  Thoracem 
in  ramos  nsque  subclavios  Vasa  Lactea  detegnntiir.  He 
has  not  the  academical  learning  of  Asellius,  nor  his 
obsequious  regard  for  the  ancients  ;  and  the  discovery 
of  the  thoracic  duct  came,  as  it  were  by  chance,  out 
of  an  experiment  that  was  of  itself  wholly  useless.      He 


22  EXPERIMENTS   ON   ANIMALS 

had  killed  an  animal  by  removing  its  heart,  and  then 
saw  a  small  quantity  of  milky  fluid  coming  from  the 
cut  end  of  the  vena  cava — Albicantcm  subinde  Lactei 
liqiioris,  nee  certe  panim  fliiidi  scattiriginerji,  intra  Vena: 
Cai'ce  fisfnlam,  circa  dcxtri  sedem  Ventricitli,  miror 
effluere — and  found  that  this  fluid  was  identical  with 
the  chyle  in  the  lacteals.  In  another  experiment,  he 
succeeded  in  finding  the  thoracic  duct — "  At  last,  by 
careful  examination  deep  down  along  the  sides  of  the 
dorsal  vertebrae,  a  sort  of  whiteness,  as  of  a  lacteal 
vessel,  catches  my  eyes.  It  lay  in  a  sinuous  course, 
close  up  against  the  spine.  I  was  in  doubt,  for  all 
my  scrutiny,  whether  I  had  to  do  with  a  nerve  or 
with  a  vessel.  Therefore,  I  put  a  ligature  a  little 
below  the  clavicular  veins ;  a^d  then  the  flaccidity 
above  the  ligature,  and  the  swelling  of  the  distended 
duct  below  the  ligature,  broke  down  my  doubt — Ergo 
subducto  paulo  infra  Claviculas  vinculo^  cum  a  ligatnrd 
sursum  /laccesceref,  super stite  deorsum  turgentis  alveoli 
tumore,  dubiiini  meuni  penitus  enervavif.  .  .  .  Laxatis 
vincidis,  lacteus  utrinque  rivtdus  in  Cavam  affatim  Chylum 
profuditr 

It  is  to  be  noted  that  Asellius  and  Pecquet,  both 
of  them,  made  their  discoveries  as  it  were  by  chance. 
Unless  digestion  were  going  on,  the  lacteals  would 
be  empty  and  invisible;  and,  on  the  dead  body, 
lacteals,  receptaculum,  and  thoracic  duct  would  all 
be  empty.  For  these  reasons,  it  cost  a  vast  number 
of  experiments  to  prove  the  existence,  and  to  dis- 
cover the  course,  of  these  vessels.  Once  found  in 
living  animals,  they  could  be  injected  and  dissected 
in  the  dead  body ;  but  they  had  been  overlooked  by 
Vesalius  and  the  men  of  his  time. 


THE    LACTEALS  23 

From  the  discovery  of  the  lacteals  came  the  dis- 
covery of  the  whole  lymphatic  system.  Daremberg, 
in  his  Ilistoirc  des  Sciences  Medicales  (Paris,  1870), 
after  an  account  of  Pecquet's  work,  says  : — 

"Up  to  this  point,  wc  have  seen  English,  Italians, 
and  French  working  together,  with  more  or  less  success 
and  genius,  to  trace  the  true  wa^s  of  blood  and  chyle  : 
there  is  yet  one  field  of  work  to  open  up,  the  lymphatics 
of  the  bod}'.  The  chief  honour  here  belongs,  without 
doubt,  to  the  Swede  Rudbeck,  though  the  Dane  Bartholin 
has  disputed  it  with  him,  with  equal  acrimony  and 
injustice." 

Rudbeck's  work  (1651—54)  coincides  exactly,  in 
point  of  time,  with  the  first  and  second  editions, 
165 1  and  1654,  of  Pecquet's  Dc  Lactibus.  It  may 
be  said,  therefore,  that  the  whole  doctrine  of  the 
lymphatic  system  was  roughed  out  half-way  through 
the  seventeenth  century. 


Ill 

THE    GASTRIC    JUICE 

From  many  causes,  the  experimental  study  of  the 
digestive  processes  came  later  than  the  study  of  the 
circulation.  As  an  object  of  speculative  thought, 
digestion  was  a  lower  phase  of  life,  the  work  of 
crass  spirits,  less  noble  than  the  blood ;  from  the 
point  of  view  of  science,  it  could  not  be  studied 
ahead  of  organic  chemistry,  and  got  no  help  from 
any  other  sort  of  knowledge  ;  and,  from  the  medical 
point  of  view,  it  was  the  final  result  of  many  un- 
known internal  forces  that  could  not  be  observed 
or  estimated  either  in  life  or  after  death.  It  did 
not,  like  the  circulation,  centre  itself  round  one 
problem  ;  it  could  not  be  focussed  by  the  work  of 
one  man.  For  these  reasons,  and  especially  because 
of  its  absolute  dependence  on  chemistry  for  the 
interpretation  of  its  facts,  it  had  to  bide  its  time ; 
and  Reaumur's  experiments  are  separated  from  the 
publication  of  Harvey's  De  Motu  Cordis  et  Sanguinis 
by  a  hundred  and  thirty  years. 

The  following  account  of  the  first  experiments 
on  digestion  is  taken  from  Claude  Bernard's  Physiologie 
Operatoirey  1879: — 

*'  The  true  experimental  study  of  digestion  is  of  com- 
paratively recent  date;  the  ancients  were  content  to 
find    comparisons,    more   or   less    happy,    with    common 

24 


THE   GASTRIC   JUICE  25 

Tacts.  Thus,  for  Hippocrates,  digestion  was  a  '  coction  '  : 
Tor  Galen,  a  '  fermentation,'  as  of  wine  in  a  vat.  In 
later  times,  van  Helmont  started  this  comparison  again  : 
for  him,  digestion  was  a  fermentation  like  that  of  bread  : 
as  the  baker,  having  kneaded  the  bread,  keeps  a  little 
of  the  dough  to  leaven  the  next  lot  kneaded,  so,  said 
van  Helmont,  the  intestinal  canal  never  completely 
empties  itself,  and  the  residue  that  it  keeps  after  each 
digestion  becomes  the  leaven  that  shall  serve  for  the 
next  digestion. 

"The  first  experimer^tal  studies  on  the  digestion 
date  from  the  end  of  the  seventeenth  century,  when 
the  Academy  of  Florence  was  the  scene  of  a  famous 
and  long  controversy  between  Borelli  and  Valisnieri. 
The  former  saw  nothing  more  in  digestion  than  a 
purely  mechanical  act,  a  work  of  attrition  whereby  the 
ingesta  were  finely  divided  and  as  it  were  pulverised : 
and  in  support  of  this  opinion  Borelli  invoked  the  facts 
that  he  had  observed  relating  to  the  gizzard  of  birds. 
We  know  that  this  sac,  with  its  very  thick  muscular 
walls,  can  exercise  on  its  contents  pressure  enough 
to  break  tlie  hardest  bodies.  Identifying  the  human 
stomach  with  the  bird's  gizzard,  Borelli  was  led  to 
attribute  to  the  walls  of  the  stomach  an  enormous 
force,  estimated  at  more  than  a  thousand  pounds ; 
whose  action,  he  said,  was  the  very  essence  of  digestion. 
Valisnieri,  on  the  contrary,  having  had  occasion  to  open 
the  stomach  of  an  ostrich,  had  found  there  a  fluid 
which  seemed  to  act  on  bodies  immersed  in  it ;  this 
fluid,  he  said,  was  the  active  agent  of  digestion,  a  kind 
of  aqua  fortis  that  dissolved  food. 

"These  two  opposed  views,  resulting  rather  from 
observations  than  from  regularly  instituted  experiments, 
were  the  starting-point  of  the  experimental  researches 
undertaken  by  Reaumur  in  1752.  To  resolve  the 
problem  set  by  Borelli  and  Valisnieri,  Reaumur  made 
birds  swallow  food  enclosed  in  fenestrated  tubes,  so 
that  the  food,  protected  from  the  mechanical  action 
of    the    walls    of    the    stomach,    was    yet    exposed    to 


26  EXPERIMENTS   ON    ANIMALS 

the  action  of  the  gastric  fluid.  The  first  tubes 
used  (glass,  tin,  etc.)  were  crushed,  bent,  or 
flattened  by  the  action  of  the  walls  of  the  gizzard ; 
and  Reaumur  failed  to  oppose  to  this  force  a 
sufficient  resistance,  till  he  employed  leaden  tubes 
thick  enough  not  to  be  flattened  by  a  pressure  of 
484  pounds :  which  was,  in  fact,  the  force  exercised 
by  the  contractile  walls  of  the  gizzard  in  turkeys,  ducks, 
and  fowls  under  observation.  These  leaden  tubes — 
filled  with  ordinary  grain,  and  closed  only  by  a  netting 
that  let  pass  the  gastric  juices — these  tubes,  after  a 
long  stay  in  the  stomach,  still  enclosed  grain  wholly 
intact,  unless  it  had  been  crushed  before  the  experiment. 
When  they  were  filled  with  meat,  it  was  found  changed, 
but  not  digested.  Reaumur  was  thus  led  at  first  to 
consider  digestion,  in  the  gallinaceae,  as  pure  and  simple 
trituration.  But,  repeating  these  experiments  on  birds 
of  prey,  he  observed  that  digestion  in  them  consists 
essentially  in  dissolution,  without  any  especial  mechanical 
action,  and  that  it  is  the  same  with  the  digestion  of 
meat  in  all  animals  with  membranous  stomachs.  To 
procure  this  dissolving  fluid,  Reaumur  made  the  birds 
swallow  sponges  with  threads  attached :  withdrawing 
these  sponges  after  a  definite  period,  he  squeezed  the 
fluid  into  a  glass,  and  tested  its  action  on  meat.  That 
was  the  first  attempt  at  artificial  digestion  i7i  vitro. 
He  did  not  carry  these  last  investigations  very  far, 
and  did  not  obtain  very  decisive  results  ;  nevertheless 
he  must  be  considered  as  the  discoverer  of  artificial 
digestion." 

After  Reaumur,  the  Abbe  Spallanzani  (1783)  made 
similar  observations  on  many  other  animals,  including 
carnivora.  He  showed  that  even  in  the  gallinaceae 
there  was  dissolution  of  food,  not  mere  trituration  :  and 
observed  how  after  death  the  gastric  fluid  may  under 
certain  conditions  act  on  the  walls  of  the  stomach 
itself. 


THE   GASTRIC   JUICE  27 

"  Henceforth  the  experimental  method  had  cut  the 
knot  of  the  question  raised  by  the  theories  of  Borelli  and 
Valisnieri :  digestion  could  no  longer  be  accounted  any- 
thing but  a  dissolution  of  food  by  the  fluid  of  the  stomach, 
the  gastric  juice.  But  men  had  still  to  understand  this 
gastric  juice,  and  to  determine  its  nature  and  mode  of 
action.  Nothing  could  be  more  contradictory  than  the 
views  on  this  matter.  Chaussier  and  Dumas,  of  Mont- 
pellier,  regarded  the  gastric  juice  as  of  very  variable 
composition,  one  time  alkaline,  another  acid,  according  to 
the  food  ingested.  Side  by  side  with  these  wholly  theo- 
retical opinions,  certain  results  of  experiments  had  led  to 
ideas  just  as  erroneous,  for  want  of  rigorous  criticism  of 
methods  ;  it  was  thus  that  Montegre  denied  the  existence 
of  the  gastric  juice  as  a  special  fluid ;  what  men  took  for 
gastric  juice,  he  said,  was  nothing  but  the  saliva  turned 
acid  in  the  stomach.  To  prove  his  point,  he  made  the 
following  experiment : — He  masticated  a  bit  of  bread, 
then  put  it  out  on  a  plate;  it  was  at  first  alkaline,  then 
at  the  end  of  some  time  it  became  acid.  In  those  days 
(18 1 3)  this  experiment  was  a  real  embarrassment  to  the 
men  who  believed  in  the  existence  of  a  special  gastric 
juice  :  we  have  now  no  need  to  refute  it. 

"These  few  instances  suffice  to  show  how  the  physi- 
ologists were  unsettled  as  to  the  nature  and  properties  of 
the  gastric  juice.  Then  (1823)  the  Academy  had  the 
happy  idea  of  proposing  digestion  as  a  subject  for  a 
prize.  Tiedemann  and  Gmelin  in  Germany,  Leuret  and 
Lassaigne  in  France,  submitted  works  of  equal  merit,  and 
the  Academy  divided  the  prize  between  them.  The  work 
of  Tiedemann  and  Gmelin  is  of  especial  interest  to  us  on 
account  of  the  great  number  of  their  experiments,  from 
which  came  not  only  the  absolute  proof  of  the  existence 
of  the  gastric  juice,  but  also  the  study  of  the  transforma- 
tion of  starch  into  glucose.  Thus  the  theory  of  digestion 
entered  a  new  phase  :  it  was  finally  recognised,  at  least 
for  certain  substances,  that  digestion  is  not  simply  dis- 
solution, but  a  true  chemical  transformation."  (CI. 
Bernard,  loc.  cit.) 


28  EXPERIMENTS   ON    ANIMALS 

In  1825  Dr.  William  Beaumont,  a  surgeon  in  the 
United  States  Army,  began  his  famous  experiments  on 
Alexis  St.  Martin,  a  young  Canadian  travelling  for  the 
American  Fur  Company,  who  was  shot  in  the  abdomen 
on  6th  June  1822,  and  recovered,  but  was  left  with 
a  permanent  opening  in  his  stomach.  Since  the  surgery 
of  those  days  did  not  favour  an  operation  to  close  this 
fistula.  Dr.  Beaumont  took  St.  Martin  into  his  service, 
and  between  1825  and  1833  made  avast  number  of 
experiments  on  him.  These  he  published/  and  they 
were  of  great  value.  But  it  is  to  be  noted  that  the 
ground  had  been  cleared  already,  fifty  years  before,  by 
Reaumur  and  Spallanzani  : — 

^^  I  make  no  claim  to  originality  in  my  opinions^  as  it 
respects  the  existence  and  operation  of  the  gastric  juice. 
My  experiments  confirm  the  doctrines  (with  some  modi- 
fications) taught  by  Spallanzani,  and  many  of  the  most 
enlightened  physiological  writers."  (Preface  to  Dr.  Beau- 
mont's book.) 

Further,  it  is  to  be  noted  that  Alexis  St.  Martin's 
case  proves  that  a  gastric  fistula  is  not  painful.  Scores 
of  experiments  were  made  on  him,  off  and  on,  for  nine 
years : — 

"  During  the  whole  of  these  periods,  from  the  spring  of 
1824  to  the  present  time  (1833),  he  has  enjoyed  general 
good  health,  and  perhaps  suffered  much  less  predisposition 
to  disease  than  is  common  to  men  of  his  age  and  circum- 
stances in  life.  He  has  been  active,  athletic,  and  vigor- 
ous ;  exercising,  eating,  and  drinking  like  other  healthy 
and  active  people.  For  the  last  four  months  he  has  been 
unusually  plethoric  and  robust,   though   constantly  sub- 

^  Experiments  atid  Observations  on  the  Gastric  Jiiice^  and  the 
Physiology  of  Digestio?i^  by  William  Beaumont,  M.D.  ;  Edinburgh, 
1838. 


THE   GASTRIC   JUICE  29 

jected  to  a  continuous  series  of  experiments  on  the  interior 
of  the  stomach ;  allowing  to  be  introduced  or  taken  out 
at  the  aperture  different  kinds  of  food,  drinks,  elastic 
catheters,  thermometer  tubes,  gastric  juice,  chyme,  etc., 
almost  daily,  and  sometimes  hourly. 

"  Such  have  been  this  man's  condition  and  circum- 
stances for  several  years  past ;  and  he  now  enjoys  the 
most  perfect  health  and  constitutional  soundness,  with 
every  function  of  the  system  in  full  force  and  vigour." 
(Dr.  Beaumont,  loc.  cit.  p.  20.) 

In  i834Eberle  publislied  a  series  of  observations  on 
the  extraction  of  gastric  juice  from  the  mucous  mem- 
brane of  the  stomach  after  death;  in  1842  Blondlot  of 
Nancy  studied  the  gastric  juice  of  animals  by  the  method 
of  a  fistula,  such  as  Alexis  St.  Martin  had  offered 
for  Dr.  Beaumont's  observation.  After  Blondlot,  came 
experiments  on  the  movements  of  the  stomach,  and 
on  the  manifold  influences  of  the  nervous  system  on 
digestion. 

It  has  been  said,  times  past  number,  that  an  animal 
with  a  fistula  is  in  pain.  It  is  not  true.  The  case  of 
St.  Martin  is  but  one  out  of  a  multitude  of  these  cases  : 
an  artificial  orifice  of  this  kind  is  not  painful. 


IV 

GLYCOGEN 

Claude  Bernard's  discovery  of  glycogen  in  the  liver 
had  a  profound  influence  both  on  physiology  and  on 
pathology.  Take  first  its  influence  on  pathology. 
Diabetes  was  known  to  Celsus,  Aretaeus,  and  Galen  ; 
Willis,  in  1674,  and  Morton,  in  1675,  noted  the 
distinctive  sweetness  of  the  urine ;  and  their  succes- 
sors proved  the  presence  of  sugar  in  it.  Rollo,  in 
1787,  observed  that  vegetable  food  was  bad  for 
diabetic  patients,  and  introduced  the  strict  use  of  a 
meat  diet.  But  Galen  had  believed  that  diabetes  was 
a  disease  of  the  kidneys,  and  most  men  still  followed 
him :  nor  did  Rollo  greatly  advance  pathology  by 
following  not  Galen,  but  Aretaeus.  Later,  with  the 
development  of  organic  chemistry,  came  the  work  of 
Chevreuil  (181  5),  Tiedemann  and  Gmelin  (1823),  and 
other  illustrious  chemists  :  and  the  pathology  of  diabetes 
grew  more  and  more  difficult : — 

"  These  observations  gave  rise  to  two  theories :  the 
one,  that  sugar  is  formed  with  abnormal  rapidity  in  the 
intestine,  absorbed  into  the  blood,  and  excreted  in  the 
urine  ;  the  other,  that  diabetes  is  due  to  imperfect  destruc- 
tion of  the  sugar,  either  in  the  intestine  or  in  the  blood. 
Some  held  that  it  underwent  conversion  into  lactic  acid 
as  it  was  passing  through  the  intestinal  walls,  while 
others  believed  it  to  be  destroyed  in  the  blood  by  means 
of  the  alkali  therein  contained."^ 

^  Reynolds^  System  of  Medicine,  vo\.  v.,  art.  "Diabetes  Mellitus." 

30 


GLYCOGEN  31 

Thus,  before  Claude  Bernard  (1813-1878),  the  path- 
ology of  diabetes  was  almost  worthless.  And,  in 
physiology,  his  work  was  hardly  less  important  than 
the  work  of  Harvey.  A  full  account  of  it,  in  all  its 
bearings,  is  given  in  Sir  Michael  Foster's  Life  of  Claude 
Bernard  {Fisher  Unwin,  1899). 

In  Bernard's  Le^o?is  sur  le  Diabete  et  la  Glycogenese 
Animale  (Paris,  1877),  there  is  a  sentence  that  has 
been  misquoted  many  times  :  — 

Sans  douie,  nos  maitis  5ont  vides  atijotirdliiii,  mais  notre 
bouche  pent  ctre  pleine  dc  legitimes  promesses  pour  Favenir. 

This  sentence  has  been  worked  so  hard  that  some  of 
the  words  have  got  rubbed  off  it :  and  the  statement 
generally  made  is  of  this  kind  : — 

Claude  Bernard  himself  confessed  that  his  hands  ivere 
empty ^  but  his  mouth  was  full  of  promises. 

Of  course,  he  did  not  mean  that  he  was  wrong  in  his 
facts.  But,  in  this  particular  lecture,  he  is  speaking 
of  the  want  of  more  science  in  practice,  looking  forward 
to  a  time  when  treatment  should  be  based  on  science, 
not  on  tradition.  Medicine,  he  says,  is  neither  science 
nor  art.  Not  science — Trouverait-on  aujourdhui  un  seul 
me'decin  raisonnable  et  instruit  osant  dire  qu'il  prevail  dune 
maniere  cetiaine  la  niarche  et  I'issue  dune  maladie  ou 
I'effet  dune  remede  ?  Not  art,  because  art  has  always 
something  to  show  for  its  trouble  :  a  statue,  a  picture, 
a  poem — Le  me'decin  artiste  ne  cree  rien,  et  ne  laisse  aucune 
oeuvre  dart,  a  moins  d appliquer  ce  titre  d  la  gue'rison  du 
malade.  Mais  quand  le  malade  nieurt,  est-ce  egalement 
son  ceuvre  ?  Et  quand  il  gue'rit,  peut-il  distinguer  sa  part 
de  celle  de  la  nature  ? 

To  Claude  Bernard,  experiments  on  animals  for  the 


32  EXPERIMENTS   ON    ANIMALS 

direct  advancement  of  medicine  seemed  a  new  thing : 
new,  at  all  events,  in  comparison  with  the  methods  of 
some  men  of  his  time.  He  was  only  saying  what  Sir 
John  Burdon  Sanderson  said  in  1875  to  the  Royal 
Commission  : — 

It  is  my  profound  conviction  that  a  future  will  come,  it 
may  he  a  somewhat  distant  future,  in  which  the  treatment 
of  disease  will  be  really  guided  by  science.  Just  as  com- 
pletely as  mechanical  science  has  come  to  be  the  guide  of 
the  mechanical  arts,  do  I  believe,  and  I  feel  confident,  that 
physiological  science  will  eventually  come  to  be  the  guide  of 
medicine  and  surgery. 

Anyhow,  lecturing  a  quarter  of  a  century  ago  on 
diabetes,  his  special  subject,  Claude  Bernard  spoke  out 
his  longing  to  compel  men  into  the  ways  of  science, 
to  give  them  some  immediate  sign  which  they  could  not 
refuse  to  see  : — 

"  At  this  present  time,  medicine  is  passing  from  one 
period  to  another.  The  old  traditions  are  losing  ground, 
and  scientific  medicine  {la  viedecine  experimentale)  has 
got  hold  of  all  our  younger  men :  every  day  it  gains 
ground,  and  will  establish  itself  against  all  its  critics,  and 
in  spite  of  the  excesses  of  those  who  are  over-zealous 
for  its  honour.  .  .  .  And  when  men  ask  us  what  are  the 
results  of  scientific  medicine,  we  are  driven  to  answer 
that  it  is  scarcely  born,  that  it  is  still  in  the  making. 
Those  who  care  for  nothing  but  an  immediate  practical 
application  must  remember  Franklin's  words.  What  is 
the  use  of  a  new-born  child,  but  to  become  a  man  ?  If 
you  deliberately  reject  scientific  medicine,  you  fail  to  see 
the  natural  development  of  man's  mind  in  all  the  sciences. 
Without  doubt,  our  hands  are  empty  to-day,  but  our 
mouth  may  well  be  filled  with  legitimate  promises  for 
the  future." 


GLYCOGEN  33 

He  died  in  1S78.  The  following  account  of  the 
discovery  of  glycogeti  is  taken  from  his  Noitvelle  Fonction 
du  Foie  (Paris,   1853)  : — 

"  My  first  researches  into  the  assimilation  and  destruc- 
tion of  sugar  in  the  living  organism  were  made  in  1843  • 
and  in  my  inaugural  thesis  (Dec.  1843)  ^  published  my 
first  experiments  on  the  subject.  I  succeeded  in  demon- 
strating a  fact  hitherto  unknown,  that  cane-sugar  cannot 
be  directly  destroyed  in  the  blood.  If  you  inject  even  a 
very  small  quantity  of  cane-sugar,  dissolved  in  water, 
into  the  blood  or  under  the  skin  of  a  rabbit,  you  find 
it  again  in  the  urine  unchanged,  with  all  its  chemical 
properties  the  same.  ...  I  had  soon  to  give  up  my  first 
point  of  view,  because  this  question  of  the  existence  of 
a  sugar-producing  organ,  that  I  had  thought  such  a  hard 
problem  of  physiology,  was  really  the  first  thing  revealed 
to  me,  as  it  were  of  itself,  at  once." 

He  kept  two  dogs  on  diflferent  diets,  one  with  sugar, 
the  other  without  it  ;  then  killed  them  during  digestion, 
and  tested  the  blood  in  the  hepatic  veins : — 

"What  was  my  surprise,  w^hen  I  found  a  considerable 
quantity  of  sugar  in  the  hepatic  veins  of  the  dog  that 
had  been  fed  on  meat  only,  and  had  been  kept  for  eight 
days  without  sugar:  just  as  I  found  it  in  the  other  dog 
that  had  been  fed  for  the  same  time  on  food  rich  in 
sugar.   .  .   . 

•'  Finally,  after  many  attempts — aprt^s  beaucoup  d essais 
et  plusieurs  illusions  qtiejefus  oblige  de  rectifier  par  des 
tdtonnenients — I  succeeded  in  showing,  that  in  dogs  fed 
on  meat  the  blood  passing  through  the  portal  vein  does 
not  contain  sugar  before  it  reaches  the  liver ;  but  when  it 
leaves  the  liver,  and  comes  by  the  hepatic  veins  into  the 
inferior  vena  cava,  this  same  blood  contains  a  consider- 
able quantity  of  a  sugary  substance  (glucose)." 

His  further  discovery,  that  this  formation  of  sugar  is 
increased  by  puncture  of  the  floor  of  the  fourth  ventricle, 

C 


34  EXPERhMENTS   ON   ANIMALS 

was  published  in  1849.  It  is  impossible  to  exaggerate 
the  importance  of  Claude  Bernard's  single-handed  work 
in  this  field  of  physiology  and  pathology  : — 

"As  a  mere  contribution  to  the  history  of  sugar  within 
the  animal  body,  as  a  link  in  the  chain  of  special  problems 
connected  with  digestion  and  nutrition,  its  value  was  very 
great.  Even  greater,  perhaps,  was  its  effect  as  a  contri- 
bution to  general  views.  The  view  that  the  animal  body, 
in  contrast  to  the  plant,  could  not  construct,  could  only 
destroy,  was,  as  we  have  seen,  already  being  shaken. 
But  evidence,  however  strong,  offered  in  the  form  of 
numerical  comparisons  between  income  and  output, 
failed  to  produce  anything  like  the  conviction  which  was 
brought  home  to  every  one  by  the  demonstration  that  a 
substance  was  actually  formed  within  the  animal  bod}^ 
and  by  the  exhibition  of  the  substance  so  formed. 

**No  less  revolutionary  was  the  demonstration  that  the 
liver  had  other  things  to  do  in  the  animal  economy  besides 
secreting  bile.  This,  at  one  blow,  destroyed  the  then 
dominant  conception  that  the  animal  body  was  to  be 
regarded  as  a  bundle  of  organs,  each  with  its  appropriate 
function,  a  conception  which  did  much  to  narrow  inquiry, 
since  when  a  suitable  function  had  once  been  assigned 
to  an  organ  there  seemed  no  need  for  further  investi- 
gations. .   .   . 

"  No  less  pregnant  of  future  discoveries  was  the  idea 
suggested  by  this  newly-found-out  action  of  the  hepatic 
tissue,  the  idea  happil}'  formulated  b}^  Bernard  as 
'  internal  secretion.'  No  part  of  physiology  is  at  the 
present  da}'-  being  more  fruitfully  studied  than  that  which 
deals  with  the  changes  which  the  blood  undergoes  as  it 
sweeps  through  the  several  tissues,  changes  by  the  careful 
adaptation  of  which  what  we  call  the  health  of  the  body 
is  secured,  changes  the  failure  or  discordance  of  which 
entails  disease.  The  study  of  these  internal  secretions 
constitutes  a  path  of  inquiry  which  has  already  been  trod 
with  conspicuous  success,  and  which  promises  to  lead  to 


GLYCOGEN  35 

untold  discoveries  of  the  greatest  moment ;  the  gate  to 
this  path  was  opened  by  Bernard's  work."  (Sir  M. 
Foster,  loc.  cif.) 

But  the  work  to  be  done,  before  all  the  clinical  facts 
of  the  disease  can  be  stated  in  terms  of  physiology,  is 
not  yet  finished.  In  England,  especial  honour  is  due 
to  Dr.  Pavy  for  his  life-long  stud3'  of  this  most  complex 
problem. 


V 

THE   PANCREAS 

Here  again  Claude  Bernard's  name  must  be  put  first. 
Before  him,  the  diverse  actions  of  the  pancreatic  juice 
had  hardly  been  studied.  Vesalius,  greatest  of  all 
anatomists,  makes  no  mention  of  the  duct  of  the  pancreas, 
and  speaks  of  the  gland  itself  as  though  its  purpose  were 
just  to  support  the  parts  in  its  neighbourhood — iit 
ventriculo  instar  substernicitli  ac  pulviuaris  subjiciatiir. 
The  duct  was  discovered  by  Wirsung,  in  1642  :  but 
anatomy  could  not  see  the  things  that  belong  to  physi- 
ology. Lindanus  (1653)  said,  /  cannot  doubt  that  the 
pancreas  expurgates,  in  the  ordinary  course  of  Nature,  those 
impurities  of  the  blood  that  are  too  crass  and  inept  to 
be  tamed  by  the  spleen  :  and,  in  the  extraordinary  course, 
all  black  bile,  begotten  of  disease  or  intemperate  living. 
Wharton  (1656)  said,  //  ministers  to  the  nerves,  taking  up 
certain  of  their  superfluities,  and  remitting  them,  through  its 
duct  into  the  intestines.  And  Tommaso  Bartholini  (1666) 
called  it  the  biliary  vesicle  of  the  spleen. 

This  chaos  of  ideas  was  brought  into  some  sort  of 
order  by  Regnier  de  Graaf,  pupil  of  Francois  de  Bois 
(Sylvius).  De  Bois  had  guessed  that  the  pancreas  must 
be  considered  not  according  to  its  position  in  the  body, 
but  according  to  its  structure  :  that  it  was  analogous  to 
the  sahvary  glands.  He  urged  his  pupil  to  make  ex- 
periments on  it :  and  de  Graaf  says  : — 

36 


THE    PANCREAS  37 

"  I  put  my  hand  to  the  work  :  and  though  many 
times  I  despaired  of  success,  yet  at  last,  by  the 
blessing  of  God  on  my  work  and  prayers,  in  the 
year  1660  I  discovered  a  way  of  collecting  the  pan- 
creatic juice." 

And,  b}'  further  experiment,  he  refuted  Bartholini's 
theory  that  the  pancreas  was  dependent  on  the 
spleen. 

Sylvius  had  supposed  that  the  pancreatic  juice 
was  slightly  acid,  and  'de  Graaf  failed  to  note  this 
mistake  ;  but  it  was  corrected  b}'  Bohn's  experiments 
in  I  7  10. 

Nearly  two  hundred  \-ear5  come  between  Regnier 
de  Graaf  and  Claude  Bernard  :  it  is  no  wonder  that 
Sir  Michael  Foster  says  that  de  Graaf's  work  was 
"  very  imperfect  and  fruitless."  So  late  as  1 840, 
there  was  yet  no  clear  understanding  of  the  action 
of  the  pancreas.  Ph3'5iology  could  not  advance  with- 
out organic  chemistry  ;  de  Graaf  could  no  more 
discover  the  amylolytic  action  of  the  pancreatic  juice 
than  Galvani  could  invent  wireless  telegraph}'.  The 
physiologists  had  to  wait  till  chemistry  was  ready 
to  help  them  : — 

"Of  course,  w^hile  physical  and  chemical  laws  w^ere 
still  lost  in  a  chaos  of  undetermined  facts,  it  was 
impossible  that  men  should  analyse  the  phenomena 
of  life  :  first,  because  these  phenomena  go  back  to 
the  laws  of  chemistry  and  physics ;  and  next,  because 
they  cannot  be  studied  without  the  apparatus,  instru- 
ments, and  all  other  methods  of  analysis  that  we  owe 
to  the  laboratories  of  the  chemists  and  the  physicists." 
(CI.  Bernard,  P/iys.  Oper.^  p.  61.) 

Therefore  de  Graaf  failed,  because  he  got  no  help 
from   other   sciences.      But   it   cannot   be  called  failure ; 


38  EXPERIMENTS   ON    ANIMALS 

he  must  be  contrasted  with  the  men  of  his  time, 
Lindanus  and  Barthohni,  facts  against  theories,  not 
with  men  of  this  century.  And  Claude  Bernard  went 
back  to  de  Graaf's  method  of  the  fistula,  having  to 
guide  him  the  facts  of  chemistry  obsei'ved  by  Valentin, 
Tiedemann  and  Gmelin,  and  Eberle.  His  work  began 
in  1 846,  and  the  Academic  des  Sciences  awarded  a 
prize  to  it  in  1850  : — 

"  Let  this  vague  conception  (the  account  of  the 
pancreas  given  in  Johannes  Miiller's  Text-book  of 
Physiology)  be  compared  with  the  knowledge  which 
we  at  present  have  of  the  several  distinct  actions  of 
the  pancreatic  juice,  and  of  the  predominant  import- 
ance of  this  fluid  not  onl}'  in  intestinal  digestion  but  in 
digestion  as  a  whole,  and  it  will  be  at  once  seen  what 
a  great  advance  has  taken  place  in  this  matter  since 
the  early  forties.  That  advance  we  owe  in  the  main 
to  Bernard.  Valentin,  it  is  true,  had  in  1844  not  only 
inferred  that  the  pancreatic  juice  had  an  action  on 
starch,  but  confirmed  his  view  by  actual  experiment 
with  the  juice  expressed  from  the  gland ;  and  Eberle 
had  suggested  that  the  juice  had  some  action  on  fat; 
but  Bernard  at  one  stroke  made  clear  its  threefold  action. 
He  showed  that  it  on  the  one  hand  emulsified,  and  on 
the  other  hand  split  up,  into  fatty  acids  and  glycerine, 
the  neutral  fats ;  he  clearly  proved  that  it  had  a  powerful 
action  on  starch,  converting  it  into  sugar ;  and  lastly, 
he  laid  bare  its  remarkable  action  on  proteid  matters." 
(Sir  Michael  Foster,  loc,  cit.) 

Finally  came  the  discovery  that  the  pancreas — apart 
from  its  influences  on  digestion — contributes  its  share, 
like  the  ductless  glands,  to  the  general  chemistry  of 
the  body  : — 

^*  It  was  discovered,  a  few  years  ago,  by  von  Mering 
and  Minkowski,  that  if,  instead  of  merely  diverting  its 


THE    PANCREAS  39 

secretion,  tlic  pancreas  is  bodily  removed,  the  metabolic 
processes  of  the  organism,  and  especially  the  metabolism 
of  carbo-hydrates,  arc  entirely  deranged,  the  result  being 
the  production  of  permanent  diabetes.  But  if  even  a 
very  small  part  of  the  gland  is  left  within  the  body,  the 
carbo-hydrate  metabolism  remains  unaltered,  and  there 
is  no  diabetes.  The  small  porlion  of  the  organ  which 
has  been  allowed  to  remain  (and  which  need  not  even 
be  left  in  its  proper  place,  but  may  be  transplanted  under 
the  skin  or  elsewhere)  is  sufficient,  by  the  exchanges 
which  go  on  between  it  and  the  blood  generally,  to 
prevent  those  serious  consequences  to  the  composition 
of  the  blood,  and  the  general  constitution  of  the  body, 
which  result  from  the  complete  removal  of  this  organ." 
(Prof.  Schafer,  1S94.) 

Here,  in  this  present  study  of  "  pancreatic  diabetes," 
by  Dr.  Vaughan  Harley  and  others,  are  facts  as 
important  as  any  that  Bernard  made  out :  in  no  way 
contradicting  his  work,  but  adding  to  it.  The  pancreas 
is  no  longer  taken  to  be  only  a  sort  of  salivary  gland 
out  of  place  :  over  and  above  the  secretion  that  it 
pours  into  the  intestines,  it  has  an  **  internal  secretion," 
a  constituent  of  the  blood  :  it  belongs  not  only  to  the 
digestive  system,  but  also,  like  the  thyroid  gland  and 
the  supra-renal  capsules,  to  the  whole  chemistry  of 
the  blood  and  the  tissues.  So  far  has  physiology  come, 
unaided  by  anatomy,  from,  the  fantastic  notions  of 
Lindanus  and  the  men  of  his  time  :  and  has  come 
every  inch  of  the  way  by  the  help  of  experiments 
on  animals.  Professor  Starling's  observations,  on  the 
chemical  influence  of  the  duodenal  mucous  membrane 
on  the  flow  of  pancreatic  fluid,  have  advanced  the 
subject  still  further. 


VI 

THE  GROWTH   OF   BONE 

The  work  of  du  Hamel  proved  that  the  periosteum  is 
one  chief  agent  in  the  growth  of  bone.  Before  him, 
this  great  fact  of  physiology  was  unknown  ;  for  the 
experiments  made  by  Anthony  de  Heide  (1684),  who 
studied  the  production  of  callus  in  the  bones  of  frogs, 
were  wholly  useless,  and  serve  only  to  show  that  men 
in  his  time  had  no  clear  understanding  of  the  natural 
growth  of  bone.      De  Heide  says  of  his  experiments : — 

"  From  these  experiments  it  appears — -forsan  probatur 
— that  callus  is  generated  by  extravasated  blood,  whose 
fluid  particles  being  slowly  exhaled,  the  residue  takes  the 
form  of  the  bone :  which  process  may  be  further  ad- 
vanced by  deciduous  halitus  from  the  ends  of  the  broken 
bone." 

And  Clopton  Havers,  in  his  Osteologia  Nova  (London, 
1 691),  goes  so  far  the  wrong  way  that  he  attributes  to 
the  periosteum  not  the  production  of  bone,  but  the  pre- 
vention of  over-production  ;  the  periosteum,  he  says,  is 
put  round  the  shaft  of  a  bone  to  compress  it,  lest  it 
grow  too  large. 

Du  Hamel's   discovery  (1739- 1743)  came  out   of  a 
chance   observation,   made    by  John   Belchier,^  that  the 

1  "  An  Account  of  the  Bones  of  Animals  being  changed  to  a  Red 
Colour  by  Aliment  only,''  by  John  Belchier,  F.R.S.,  Phil.  Tra7is. 
Roy.  Soc,  1735-36.  There  is  a  letter  from  Sir  Hans  Sloane,  then 
President  of  the  Royal  Society,  to  M.  Geoffroy,  member  of  the 

40 


THE   GROWTH    OP^    BONE  41 

bones  of  animals  fed  near  d^'e-works  were  stained  with 
the  dye.  Belchier  therefore  put  a  bird  on  food  mixed 
with  madder,  and  found  that  its  bones  had  taken  up 
the  stain.  Then  du  Hamel  studied  the  whole  subject 
by  a  series  of  experiments.  To  estimate  the  advance 
that  he  gave  to  physiology,  contrast  de  Heide's  fanciful 
language  with  the  title  of  one  of  du  Hamel's  papers — 
Ouatrieme  Me'moire  sur  les  Os,  daiis  lequel  on  sc  propose 
de  rapporter  de  nouvelles  preiives  qui  etablissent  que  les  os 
croissent  en  grosseur  par  f  addition  de  couches  osseuses  qui 
tirent  leur  origine  du  periostc,  comme  le  corps  ligneux  des 
Arhres  augmente  en  grosseur  par  V addition  de  couches 
ligneuses  qui  sc  forment  dans  Vc'corce.  Or  take  an  ex- 
ample of  du  Hamel's  method  : — 

"Three  pigs  were  destined  to  clear  up  my  doubts. 
The  first,  six  weeks  old,  was  fed  for  a  month  on  ordinary 
food,  with  an  ounce  daily  of  madder-juice — garence  grappe 
— put  in  it.  At  the  end  of  the  month,  we  stopped  the 
juice,  and  fed  the  pig  in  the  ordinary  way  for  six  weeks, 
and  then  killed  it.  The  marrow  of  the  bones  was  sur- 
rounded by  a  fairly  thick  layer  of  white  bone  :  this  w^as 
the  formation  of  bone  during  the  first  six  weeks  of  life, 
without  madder.  This  ring  of  w^hite  bone  was  surrounded 
by  another  zone  of  red  bone  :  this  was  the  formation  of 
bone  during  the  administration  of  the  madder.  Finally, 
this  red  zone  was  covered  with  a  fairly  thick   la3'er  of 

French  Academy  : — "  M.  Belchier,  chirurgien,  membre  de  cette 
Societe,  dinant  un  jour  chez  un  Teinturier  qui  travaille  en  Toiles 
peintes,  remarqua  que  dans  un  Pcfrc  frais  qu'on  avoit  servi  sur  table, 
et  dont  la  chair  etoit  de  bon  gout,  les  05  etoient  rouges.  II  de- 
manda  la  cause  d'un  efifet  si  singulier,  et  on  lui  dit  que  ces  sortes 
de  Teinturiers  se  servoient  de  la  racine  de  Rubia  Tinctorum,  ou 
s^arence,  pour  fixer  les  couleurs  deja  imprimees  sur  les  Toiles  de 
coton,  qu'on  appelle  en  Angleterre  callicoes."  This  passage  of 
dye  into  the  bones  of  animals  had  been  noted  so  far  back  as 
1573,  by  Antoine  Mizald,  a  doctor  in  Paris  —  Erythrodanum^ 
vulgo  rubia  tinctorum^  ossa  pecudum  ntbenti  et  sandycifto  colore 
imbuit. 


42  EXPERIMENTS    ON    ANIMALS 

white  bone  :  this  was  the  layer  formed  after  the  madder 
had  been  left  off.  .  .  .  We  shall  have  no  further  difficulty 
in  understanding  whence  transudes  the  osseous  juice 
that  was  thought  necessary  for  the  formation  of  callus 
and  the  fiiling-up  of  the  wounds  of  the  bones,  now  we 
see  that  it  is  the  periosteum  that  fills  up  the  wounds,  or 
is  made  thick  round  the  fractures,  and  afterward  becomes 
of  the  consistence  of  cartilage,  and  at  last  acquires  the 
hardness  of  bones." 

These  results,  confirmed  by  Bazan  (1746)  and 
Boehmer  (175 1),  were  far  beyond  anything  that  had 
yet  been  known  about  the  periosteum.  But  the  growth 
of  bone  is  a  very  complex  process  :  the  naked  eye  sees 
only  the  grosser  changes  that  come  with  it  ;  and  du 
Hamel's  ingenious  comparison  between  the  periosteum 
and  the  bark  of  trees  was  too  simple  to  be  exact. 
Therefore  his  work  was  opposed  by  Haller,  and  by 
Dethleef,  Haller's  pupil  :  and  the  great  authority  of 
Haller's  name,  and  the  difficulties  lying  beyond  du 
Hamel's  plain  facts,  brought  about  a  long  period  of 
uncertainty.  Bordenave  (1756)  found  reasons  for  sup- 
porting Haller;  and  Fougeroux  (1760)  supported  du 
Hamel.  Thus  men  came  to  study  the  whole  subject 
with  more  accuracy — -the  growth  in  length,  as  well  as 
the  growth  in  thickness  ;  the  medullary  cavity,  the 
development  of  bone,  the  nutrition  and  absorption  of 
bone.  Among  those  who  took  up  the  work  were  Bichat, 
Hunter,  Troja,  and  Cruveilhier  ;  and  they  recognised  the 
surgical  aspect  of  these  researches  in  physiology.  After 
them,  the  periosteal  growth  of  bone  became,  as  it  were, 
a  part  of  the  principles  of  surgery.  From  this  point  of 
view  of  practice,  issued  the  experiments  made  by  Syme 
(1837)  and  Stanley  (1849):  which  proved  the  import- 
ance of  the  epiphysial  cartilages   for  the  growth  of  the 


THE   GROWTH    OF    RONE  43 

bones  in  Iciigtli,  and  the  risk  of"  interfering  with  these 
cartilages  in  operations  on  the  joints  of  children. 
Finally,  with  the  rise  of  anaesthetics  and  of  the  anti- 
septic nietiiod,  came  tlie  work  of  Oilier,  of  Lyon,  whose 
good  inflnence  on  the  treatment  of  these  cases  can 
hardl}'  be  over-estimated. 


VII 

THE    NERVOUS    SYSTEM 

As  with  the  circulatory  system,  so  with  the  nervous 
system,  the  work  of  Galen  was  centuries  ahead  of  its 
time.  Before  him,  Aristotle,  who  twice  refers  to  ex- 
periments on  animals,  had  observed  the  brain  during 
life :  for  he  says,  *'  In  no  animal  has  the  blood  any 
feeling  when  it  is  touched,  any  more  than  the  excretions  ; 
nor  has  the  brain,  or  the  marrow,  any  feeling,  when  it  is 
touched  "  :  but  there  is  reason  for  believing  that  he  neither 
recognised  the  purpose  of  the  brain,  nor  understood  the 
distribution  of  the  nerves.  Galen,  by  the  help  of  the  ex- 
perimental method,  founded  the  physiology  of  the  nervous 
system  : — 

"  Galen's  method  of  procedure  was  totally  different  to 
that  of  an  anatomist  alone.  He  first  reviewed  the  ana- 
tomical position,  and  by  dissection  showed  the  continuity 
of  the  nervous  system,  both  central  and  peripheral,  and 
also  that  some  bundles  of  nerve  fibres  were  distributed  to 
the  skin,  others  to  the  muscles.  Later,  by  process  of  the 
physiological  experiment  of  dividing  such  bundles  of 
fibres,  he  showed  that  the  former  were  sensory  fibres 
and  the  latter  motor  fibres.  He  further  traced  the  nerves 
to  their  origins  in  the  spinal  cord,  and  their  terminations 
as  aforesaid.  From  these  observations  and  experiments 
he  was  able  to  deduce  the  all-important  fact  that  different 
nerve-roots  supplied  different  groups  of  muscles  and 
different  areas  of  the  skin.  .  .  .  An  excellent  illustration 
of  his  method,  and  of  the  fact  that  we  ought  not  to  treat 
symptoms,  but  the  causes  of  symptoms,  is  shown  very 

44 


THE    NERVOUS   SYSTEM  45 

clearly  in  one  of  the  cases  which  Galen  records  as  having 
come  under  his  care.  He  tells  us  that  he  was  consulted 
by  a  certain  sophist  called  Pausanias,  who  had  a  severe 
degree  of  anaesthesia  of  the  little  and  ring  fingers.  For 
this  loss  of  sensation,  etc.,  the  medical  men  who  attended 
him  applied  ointments  of  various  kinds  to  the  affected 
lingers  ;  but  Galen,  considering  that  that  was  a  wrong 
principle,  inquired  into  the  history,  and  found  that  while 
the  patient  was  driving  in  his  chariot  he  had  accidentally 
fallen  out  and  struck  his  spine  at  the  junction  of  the 
cervical  and  dorsal  regions.  Galen  recognised  that  he 
had  to  do  with  a  traumatism  affecting  the  eighth  cervical 
and  first  dorsal  nerve ;  therefore,  he  says,  he  ordered 
that  the  ointments  should  be  taken  off  the  hand  and 
placed  over  the  spinal  column,  so  as  to  treat  the  really 
affected  part,  and  not  apply  remedies  to  merel}'  the 
referred  seat  of  pain."^ 

Galen,  by  this  sort  of  work,  laid  the  foundations  of 
physiology ;  but  the  men  who  came  after  him  let  his 
facts  be  overwhelmed  by  fantastic  doctrines  :  all  through 
the  ages,  from  Galen  to  the  Renaissance,  no  great 
advance  was  made  toward  the  interpretation  of  the 
nervous  system.  Long  after  the  Renaissance,  his 
authority  still  held  good  ;  his  ghost  was  not  laid  even 
by  Paracelsus  and  Vesalius,  it  haunted  the  medical 
profession  so  late  as  the  middle  of  the  seventeenth 
century;  but  the  men  who  worshipped  his  name  missed 
the  whole  meaning  of  his  work.  This  long  neglect  of 
the  experimental  method  left  such  a  gap  in  the  history 
of  physiology,  that  Sir  Charles  Bell  seems  to  take  up 
the  experimental  study  of  the  nervous  system  at  the 
point  where  Galen  had  stopped  short  ;  we  go  from   the 

^  From  an  address  on  Galen,  given  by  Sir  Victor  Horsley  before 
the  Medical  Society  of  the  Middlesex  Hospital.  See  Middlesex 
Hospital  Journal^  May  1899. 


46  EXPERIMENTS   ON   ANIMALS 

time  of  Commodus  to  the  time  of  George  the  Third,  and 
there  is  Bell,  as  it  were,  putting  the  finishing  touch  to 
Galen's  facts.  It  is  true  that  experiments  had  been 
made  on  the  nervous  system  by  man}^  men  ;  but  a  dead 
weight  of  theories  kept  down  the  whole  subject.  For  a 
good  instance,  how  imagination  hindered  science,  there 
is  the  following  list,  made  by  Dr.  Risien  Russell,  of 
theories  about  the  cerebellum  : — 

''  Galen  was  of  opinion  that  the  cerebellum  must  be  the 
originator  of  a  large  amount  of  vital  force.  After  him, 
and  up  to  the  time  of  Willis,  the  prevalent  idea  seems 
to  have  been  that  it  was  the  seat  of  memory ;  while 
Bourillon  considered  it  the  seat  of  instinct  and  intelli- 
gence. Willis  supposed  that  it  presided  over  involuntary 
movements  and  organic  functions ;  and  this  view,  though 
refuted  by  Haller,  continued  in  the  ascendency  for  some 
time.  Some  believed  strongly  in  its  influence  on  the 
functions  of  organic  life;  and  according  to  some,  diseases 
of  the  cerebellum  appeared  to  tell  on  the  movements  of 
the  heart.  .  .  .  Haller  believed  it  to  be  the  seat  of 
sensations,  as  well  as  the  source  of  voluntary  power; 
and  there  were  many  supporters  of  the  theory  that  the 
cerebellum  was  the  seat  of  the  sensory  centres.  Renzi 
considered  this  organ  the  nervous  centre  by  which  we 
perceive  the  reality  of  the  external  world,  and  direct  and 
fix  our  senses  on  the  things  round  us.  Gall,  and  later 
Broussais,  and  others,  held  that  this  organ  presided  over 
the  instinct  of  reproduction,  or  the  propensity  to  love ; 
while  Cams  regarded  it  as  the  seat  of  the  will  also. 
Rolando  looked  on  it  as  the  source  of  origin  of  all 
movements.  Jessen  adduced  arguments  in  favour  of  its 
being  the  central  organ  of  feeling,  or  of  the  soul,  and  the 
principal  seat  of  the  sensations." 

It  is  plain,  from  this  list,  that  physiology  had  become 
obscured  by  fanciful  notions  of  no  practical  value.  If  a 
better  understanding  of  the  nervous  system  could  have 


THE    NERVOUS   SYSTEM  47 

been  got  without  experiments  on  animals,  why  had  men 
to  wait  so  long  for  it?  The  Italian  anatomists  had 
long  ago  given  them  all  the  anatomy  that  was  needed 
to  make  a  beginning  ;  the  hospitals,  and  practice,  had 
given  them  many  hundred  years  of  clinical  facts  ; 
nervous  diseases  and  head  injuries  were  common 
enough  in  the  Middle  Ages  ;  and  by  the  time  of 
Ambroise  Pare,  if  not  before,  post-mortem  examinations 
were  allowed.  The  one  thing  wanted  was  the  experi- 
mental method  ;  and,  for*  want  of  it,  the  science  of  the 
nervous  system  stood  still.  Experiments  had  been 
made ;  but  the  steady,  general,  unbiassed  use  of  this 
method  had  been  lost  sight  of,  and  men  were  more 
occupied  with  logic  and   with   philosophy. 

Then,  in  181  i,  came  Sir  Charles  Bell's  work.  If 
any  one  would  see  how  great  was  the  need  of  experi- 
ments on  animals  for  the  interpretation  of  the  nervous 
system,  let  him  contrast  the  physiology  of  the 
eighteenth  century  with  that  one  experiment  by  Bell 
which  enabled  him  to  say,  ''  I  now  saw  the  meaning 
of  the  double  connection  of  the  nerves  with  the  spinal 
marrow."  It  is  true  that  this  method  is  but  a  part 
of  the  science  of  medicine  ;  that  experiment  and  ex- 
perience ought  to  go  together  like  the  convexity  and 
the  concavity  of  a  curve.  But  it  is  true  also  that  men 
owe  their  deliverance  from  ignorance  about  the  nervous 
system  more  to  experiments  on  animals  than  to  any 
other  method  of  observing  facts. 

I.   Sir  Charles  Bell  ( i  77 8- 1  842) 

The  great  authority  of  Sir  Charles  Bell  has  been 
quoted  a  thousand  times  against  all  experiments  on 
animals  ; — • 


48  EXPERIMENTS    ON    ANIiMALS 

"  Experiments  have  never  been  the  means  of  dis- 
covery ;  and  a  survey  of  what  has  been  attempted  of 
late  years  in  ph3^siology,  will  prove  that  the  opening  of 
living  animals  has  done  more  to  perpetuate  error  than 
to  confirm  the  just  views  taken  from  the  study  of 
anatomy  and  natural  motions." 

He  wrote,  of  course,  in  the  days  before  bacteriology, 
before  anaesthetics  ;  he  had  in  his  mind  neither  inocula- 
tions, nor  any  observations  made  under  chloroform  or 
ether,  but  just  "  the  opening  of  living  animals."  He 
had  also  in  his  mind,  and  always  in  it,  a  great  dislike 
against  the  school  of  Magendie.  Let  all  that  pass ; 
our  only  concern  here  is  to  know  whether  these  words 
are  true  of  his  own  work. 

They  occur  in  a  paper,  0«  the  Motions  of  the  Eye^ 
in  Illustration  of  the  Uses  of  the  Muscles  and  Nerves  of 
the  Orbit ;  communicated  by  Sir  Humphry  Davy  to  the 
Royal  Society,  and  read  March  20,  1823.^  This 
essay  was  one  of  a  series  of  papers  on  the  nervous 
system,  presented  to  the  Ro3'al  Society  during  the 
years  1821  — 1829.  In  1830,  having  already  published 
four  of  these  papers  under  the  title.  The  Exposition  of 
the  Nervous  System^  Bell  published  all  six  of  them,  under 
the  title,  The  Nervous  System  of  the  Human  Body, 

In  his  Preface  to  this  book  (1830)  he  quotes  the 
earliest  of  all  his  printed  WTitings  on  the  nervous 
system,  a  pamphlet,  printed  in  181  i,  under  the  title, 
An  Idea  of  a  New  Anatomy  of  the  Brain ^  Submitted  for 
the  Observation  of  the  Authoy^s  Friends.  We  have 
therefore  two  statements  of  his  work,  one  in  181 1, 
the  other  in  1823  and  1830.  The  first  of  them  was 
written  when  his  work  was  still  new  before  his  eyes. 

1  This  paper  includes  an  Experimental  Efiquiry  i)ito  the  Action 
of  these  Muscles^  giving  an  account  of  an  experiment  on  the  eye. 


THE   NERVOUS   SYSTEM  49 

Those  who  say  that  experiments  did  not  help  Bell 
in  his  great  discovery — the  difference  between  the 
anterior  and  the  posterior  nerve-roots — appeal  to  certain 
passages  in  the  1830  volume: — 

"  In  a  foreign  review  of  my  former  papers,  the  results 
have  been  considered  as  a  further  proof  in  favour  of 
experiments.  They  are,  on  the  contrary,  deductions 
from  anatomy;  and  I  have  had  recourse  to  experiments, 
not  to  form  my  own  opinions,  but  to  impress  them  upon 
others.  It  must  be  my  apology  that  my  utmost  efforts 
of  persuasion  were  lost,  while  I  urged  my  statements  on 
the  grounds  of  anatomy  alone.  I  have  made  few  experi- 
ments ;  they  have  been  simple  and  easily  performed,  and 
I  hope  are  decisive.  .  .  . 

"  My  conceptions  of  this  matter  arose  by  inference 
from  the  anatomical  structure ;  so  that  the  few  experi- 
ments which  have  been  made  were  directed  only  to  the 
verification  of  the  fundamental  principles  on  which  the 
system  is  established." 

If  it  were  not  for  the  1 8  1 1  pamphlet,  the  opponents 
of  all  experiments  on  animals  might  claim  Sir  Charles 
Bell  on  their  side.  But  while  his  work  was  still  a  new 
thing,  he  spoke  in  another  way  of  it : — 

''  I  found  that  injury  done  to  the  anterior  portion  of 
the  spinal  marrow  convulsed  the  animal  more  certainly 
than  injury  to  the  posterior  portion;  but  I  found  it 
difficult  to  make  the  experiment  without  injuring  both 
portions. 

"Next,  considering  that  the  spinal  nerves  have  a 
double  root,  and  being  of  opinion  that  the  properties  of 
the  nerves  are  derived  from  their  connections  with  the 
parts  of  the  brain,  /  thought  that  I  had  an  opporttmity  of 
putting  my  opinion  to  the  test  of  experiment,  and  of  prov- 
ing at  the  same  time  that  nerves  of  different  endowments 
were  in  the  same  cord  (nerve-trunk)  and  held  together 
by  the  same  sheath. 

D 


50  EXPERIMENTS   ON    ANIMALS 

'*0n  laying  bare  the  roots  of  the  spinal  nerves,  I 
found  that  I  could  cut  across  the  posterior  fasciculus  of 
nerves,  which  took  its  origin  from  the  posterior  portion 
of  the  spinal  marrow,  without  convulsing  the  muscles 
of  the  back;  but  that  on  touching  the  anterior  fasciculus 
with  the  point  of  the  knife,  the  muscles  of  the  back  were 
immediately  convulsed. 

*'  Such  were  my  reasons  for  concluding  that  the  cere- 
brum and  cerebellum  were  parts  distinct  in  function, 
and  that  every  nerve  possessing  a  double  function 
obtained  that  by  having  a  double  root.  /  7iow  saw  the 
meaning  of  the  double  connection  of  the  nerves  with 
the  spinal  marrow ;  and  also  the  cause  of  that  seeming 
intricacy  in  the  connections  of  nerves  throughout  their 
course,  which  were  not  double  at  their  origins." 

It  is  impossible  to  reconcile  the  1830  sentences 
with  this  vivid  personal  account  of  himself ;  /  had  an 
opportunity  of  putting  my  opinion  to  the  test  of  experi- 
ment .  .  .  an  opportunity  of  proving  .  .  .  Such  were  my 
reasons  for  concluding.  .  .  .  I  now  saw.  .  .  .  It  is  just 
what  all  men  of  science  say  of  their  experiments  :  the 
very  phrase  of  Archimedes,  and  Asellius,  and  de  Graaf. 
If  Sir  Charles  Bell  had  been  working  at  the  facts  of 
chemistry  or  of  botany,  who  would  have  doubted  the 
meaning  of  these  words  ? 

This  same  inconsistency  of  sentences  occurs  else- 
where in  his  Nervous  System  of  the  Human  Body.  In 
one  place  he  says  that  he  has  made  few  experiments  : 
They  have  been  simple,  and  easily  performed,  and  I  hope 
are  decisive.  In  another  he  says:  ^^  After  making  several 
experiments  on  the  cerebrum  and  cerebellum^  I  laid  the 
question  of  their  functions  entirely  aside,  and  confined 
myself  to  the  investigation  of  the  spinal  marrow  and  the 
nerves  ;  a  subject  which  I  found  more  within  my  power, 
and  which  forms  the  substance  of  the  present  volume." 


THE    NERVOUS    SYSTEM  51 

Next,  take  his  account  of  the  cranial  nerves  : — 

"  It  was  necessary  to  Ivnow,  in  the  first  place, 
whether  the  phenomena  exhibited  on  injuring  the 
separate  roots  corresponded  with  what  was  suggested 
by  their  anatomy.  .  .  . 

"  Here  a  difficulty  arose.  An  opinion  prevailed  that 
ganglions  were  intended  to  cut  off  sensation ;  and  every 
one  of  these  nerves,  which  I  supposed  were  the  instru- 
ments of  sensation,  have  ganglions  on  their  roots.  Some 
very  decided  experiment  was  necessary  to  overturn  this 
dogma.  (Account  of  the  experiment.)  By  pursuing  the 
inquiry,  it  was  found  that  a  ganglionic  nerve  is  the  sole 
organ  of  sensation  in  the  head  and  face :  ganglions  were 
therefore  no  hindrance  to  sensation ;  and  thus  my 
opinion  was  confirmed.  .  .  .  It  now  became  obvious  why 
the  third,  sixth,  and  ninth  nerves  of  the  encephalon  were 
single  nerves  in  their  roots.  .  .  . 

**  Observing  that  there  was  a  portion  of  the  fifth  nerve 
which  did  not  enter  the  ganglion  of  that  nerve,  and 
being  assured  of  the  fact  by  the  concurring  testimony  of 
anatomists,  I  conceived  that  the  fifth  nerve  was  in  fact 
the  uppermost  nerve  of  the  spine.  .  .  .  This  opinion  was 
confirmed  by  experiment.  .  .  .  (Account  of  an  experi- 
ment on  the  dead  body.)  On  dividing  the  root  of  the 
nerve  in  a  living  animal,  the  jaw  fell  relaxed.  Thus  its 
functions  are  no  longer  matter  of  doubt :  it  is  at  once  a 
muscular  nerve  and  a  nerve  of  sensibility.  And  thus  the 
opinion  is  confirmed,  that  the  fifth  nerve  is  to  the  head 
what  the  spinal  nerves  are  to  the  other  parts  of  the  body, 
in  respect  to  sensation  and  volition." 

The  value  of  the  experimental  method  could  hardly 
be  stated  in  more  emphatic  words.  He  supposed  some- 
thing, conceived  it,  had  an  opinion  about  it.  Anatomy 
had  suggested  something  to  him.  He  put  his  opinion 
to  the  test  of  phenomena,  that  is  to  say,  to  the  test  of 
visible  facts  ;  and  then  his  opinion  was  confirmed.      As 


52  EXPERIMENTS   ON    ANIMALS 

with  the  spinal  nerve-roots,  so  with  the  fifth  cranial 
nerve — his  work  was  successful,  because  he  followed 
the  way  of  experiment. 

He  was  by  nature  of  a  most  complex  and  sensitive 
temperament,  full  of  contrary  forces — one  man  in  1 8  1 1 , 
another  in  1830.  In  181  I  he  wrote,  /  now  saw  the 
meaning  of  the  double  connection  of  the  nerves;  in  1830 
he  had  come  to  hate  the  stupid  sterile  materialism  of 
the  French  school :  he  beheld  anatomy  falling  behind 
physiolog}"",  and  his  Windmill  Street  school  perishing 
to  make  way  for  the  Hospital  schools  and  for  the 
University  of  London.  He  was  before  everything  else 
a  great  anatomist  :  he  stood  up  for  the  honour  of 
anatomy  against  the  new  physiology,  and  for  the 
honour  of  the  Monroes  and  the  Hunters  against 
Magendie  :  he  hated  the  notion  that  any  man  should 
proceed  to  experiments  on  function  till  the  very  last 
secrets  had  been  got  out  of  structure.  He  died  a  few 
years  afterward.  The  1830  writings  are  his  last  stand 
for  the  defence  of  his  country,  his  school,  and  his 
beloved  anatom}^,  against  the  methods  of  Magendie  ; 
who  said  of  himself,  "  I  am  a  mere  street  scavenger, 
chiffonier^  of  science.  With  m}'  hook  in  my  hand  and 
my  basket  on  my  back,  I  go  about  the  streets  of 
science,  collecting  what  I  find." 

This  open  conflict  between  Bell's  first  and  last 
thoughts  is  a  part  of  his  character  :  he  was  brilliant, 
impulsive,  changeable,  inconsistent ;  and,  what  is  more 
important,  his  honour  kept  him  from  trying  to  evade 
this  trumpery  charge  of  inconsistency ;  and  he  reprinted 
the  1 8 1 1  Preface  in  the  book  that  he  published  in 
1830.  Doubtless  he  would  have  picked  his  words 
more  carefully  if  he  had  foreseen  that  one  of  the  1830 
sentences  would  be  wrested  out  of  its  place  in  his  life's 


THE    NERVOUS   SYSTEM  53 

work,    and    used    as    false    evidence    against    the    very 
method  that  he  followed. 

His  observations  on  the  cranial  nerves  brought  about 
an  immediate  change  in  the  practice  of  surgery  : — 

"  Up  to  the  time  that  Sir  Charles  Bell  made  his  experi- 
ments on  the  nerves  of  the  face,  it  was  the  common 
custom  of  surgeons  to  divide  the  facial  nerve  for  the 
relief  of  neuralgia,  tic  doiileurcux ;  whereas  it  exercises, 
and  was  proved  by  Sir  Charles  Bell  to  exercise,  no  in- 
fluence over  sensation,  and  its  division  consequently  for 
the  relief  of  pain  was  a  useless  operation."  (Sir  J. 
Erichsen.) 

The  relation  of  Magendie's  work  on  the  nerve-roots  to 
Bell's  work  need  not  be  considered  here.  The  exact 
dates  of  Bell's  observations  are  given  by  one  of  his  pupils 
in  the  Preface  to  the  1830  volume.  Magendie  finally 
proved  the  sensory  nature  of  the  posterior  nerve-roots  : 
"The  exact  and  full  proof  which  he  brought  forward  of 
the  truth  which  Charles  Bell  had  divined  rather  than 
demonstrated,  that  the  anterior  and  posterior  roots  of 
spinal  nerves  have  essentially  different  functions — a 
truth  which  is  the  very  foundation  of  the  physiology  of 
the  nervous  system — is  enough  by  itself  to  mark  him  as 
a  great  physiologist."     (Sir  M.  Foster,  loc.  cit.) 

2.   Marshall  Hall  ( i  790- 1857) 

Reflex  action  had  been  studied  long  before  the  time 
of  Marshall  Hall.  The  Hon.  Robert  Boyle  (1663)  had 
observed  the  movements  and  actions  of  decapitated 
vipers,  flies,  silkworms,  and  butterflies.  Similar  observa- 
tions were  made  on  frogs,  eels,  and  other  lower  animals, 
by  Redi,  Woodward,  Stuart,  Le  Gallois,  and  Sir  Gilbert 
Blane.  According  to  Richet,  it  was  Willis  who  first 
gave  the  name  reflex  to  these  movements. 


54  EXPERIMENTS   ON    ANIMALS 

It  cannot  be  said  that  these  first  studies  of  reflex 
action  did  much  for  physiology.  But  the  following 
translation  from  Prochaska  (1800)  shows  how  they 
cleared  the  way  for  Marshall  Hall's  work,  by  the  proof 
that  they  gave  of  the  liberation  of  nervous  energy  in 
the  spinal  cord  : — 

"These  movements  of  animals  after  decapitation  must 
needs  be  by  consent  and  commerce  betwixt  the  spinal 
nerves.  For  a  decapitated  frog,  if  it  be  pricked,  not 
only  draws  away  the  part  that  is  pricked,  but  also  creeps 
and  jumps  ;  which  cannot  happen  but  b}'  consent  betwixt 
the  sensory  nerves  and  the  motor  nerves.  The  seat  of 
which  consent  must  needs  be  in  the  spinal  cord,  the  only 
remaining  portion  of  the  sensorium.  And  this  reflexion 
of  sensory  impressions  into  motor  impressions  is  not 
accomplished  in  obedience  to  physical  laws  alone — wherein 
the  angle  of  reflexiofi  is  equal  to  the  angle  of  incidence^ 
and  reaction  to  action — but  it  follows  special  laws  as  it 
were  written  by  Nature  on  the  spinal  cord,  which  we 
can  know  only  by  their  effects^  but  catmot  fathom  with 
the  tinderstanding.  But  the  general  law,  whereby  the 
sensorium  reflects  sensory  impressions  into  motor  im- 
pressions, is  the  preservation  of  ourselves." 

It  was  not  possible,  in  1800,  to  go  further,  or  to 
put  the  facts  of  reflex  action  more  clearly :  but  this 
fine  sentence  gives  no  hint  of  the  truth  that  guided 
Marshall  Hall — that  the  *'  consent  and  comm^erce  "  of 
reflex  action  are  to  be  found  at  definite  points  or  levels 
in  the  spinal  cord  ;  that  the  cord  no  more  "  works  as 
a  whole "  than  the  brain.  The  greatness  of  Marshall 
Hall's  work  lies  in  his  recognition  of  the  divisional 
action  of  the  cord  :  he  proved  the  existence  of  definite 
centres  in  it,  he  discovered  the  facts  of  spinal  localisa- 
tion, and  thus  foreshadowed  the  discovery  of  cerebral 
localisation.  In  his  earlier  writings  (1823-33)  he 
showed   how    the   movements  of  the  trunk  and  of  the 


THE    NERVOUS   SYSTEM  55 

limbs  are  only  one  sort  of  reflex  action  ;  how  the 
larynx,  the  pharynx,  and  the  sphincter  muscles,  all  act 
by  the  "  consent  and  ccrnmerce "  of  the  spinal  cord. 
Later,  in  1837,  he  demonstrated  the  course  of  nerve- 
impulses  along  the  cord  from  one  level  to  another,  the 
results  of  direct  stimulation  of  the  cord,  and  other 
facts  of  spinal  localisation.  He  noted  the  different 
effects  of  opium  and  of  strychnine  on  reflex  action ; 
and  he  extended  the  doctrines  of  reflex  action  beyond 
physiology  to  the  convulsive  movements  of  the  body 
in  certain  diseases. 

3.   /7owr^;2s  (1794-1867) 

Beside  his  work  on  the  nervous  system,  Flourens 
studied  the  periosteal  growth  of  bone,  and  the  action 
of  chloroform  ;  ^  but  he  is  best  known  by  his  experi- 
ments on  the  respiratory  centre  and  the  cerebellum. 
The  men  who  interpreted  the  nervous  system  followed 
the  anatomical  course  of  that  system  :  first  the  nerve- 
roots,  then  the  cord,  then  the  medulla  oblongata  and 
the  cerebellum,  and  last  the  cerebral  hemispheres ;  a 
steady  upward  advance,  from  the  observation  of  decapi- 
tated insects  to  the  localisation  of  centres  in  the  human 
brain.  Flourens,  by  his  work  on  the  medulla  oblongata, 
localised  the  respiratory  centre,  the  nerve-cells  for  the 
reflex  movements  of  respiration  : — 

"  M.  Flourens  a  circonscrit  ce  centre  avec  une  scrupu- 
leuse  precision,  et  lui  a  donne  le  nom  de  ?iceud  vitaiy 
(CI.  Bernard.) 

1  When  Flourens  died,  Claude  Bernard  was  appointed  to  his 
place  in  the  French  Academy  ;  and,  in  the  Discours  de  Reception 
(May  27,  1869),  said,  "  It  is  twenty-two  years  since  the  discovery 
of  anaesthesia  by  ether  came  to  us  from  the  New  World,  and 
spread  rapidly  over  Europe.  M.  Flourens  was  the  first  man  who 
showed  that  chloroform  is  more  active  than  ether." 


56  EXPERIMENTS   ON   ANIMALS 

Afterward  came  the  discovery  of  cardiac  and  other 
centres  in  the  same  portion  of  the  nervous  system. 
Flourens  also  showed  that  the  cerebellum  is  concerned 
with  the  equilibration  of  the  body,  and  with  the  co- 
ordination of  muscular  movements  ;  that  an  animal,  a 
few  days  old,  deprived  of  sensation  and  consciousness 
by  removal  of  the  cerebral  hemispheres,  was  yet  able 
to  stand  and  move  forward,  but,  when  the  cerebellum 
was  removed,  its  muscles  lost  all  co-ordinate  action. 
{Rechoxhes  Experimentales,  Paris,  1842.)  And  from 
his  work,  and  the  work  of  those  who  followed  him, 
on  the  semicircular  canals  of  the  internal  ear,  came 
the  evidence  that  these  minute  structures  are  the  ter- 
minal organs  of  equilibration  :  that  as  the  special  senses 
have  their  terminal  apparatus  and  their  central  apparatus, 
so  the  semicircular  canals  and  the  cerebellum  are  the 
terminal  apparatus  and  the  central  apparatus  of  the 
sense  of  equilibrium. 

4.   Claude  Bernard  ( i  8  i  3- 1  878) 

The  discovery  of  the  vaso-motor  nerves,  and  of  the 
control  of  the  nervous  system  over  the  calibre  of  the 
arteries,  was  made  by  Claude  Bernard  at  the  outset  of 
his  work  on  the  influence  of  the  nervous  system  on  the 
temperature.^  The  evidence  of  Professor  Sharpey  before 
the  Royal  Commission  of  1875   shows  how  things  had 

^  A  full  account  of  this  discovery,  and  of  its  relation  to  the 
experiments  of  Brown  Sequard,  Waller,  and  Budge,  is  given  by 
Sir  Michael  Foster  in  his  life  of  Claude  Bernard  ;  and  the  question 
of  priority  between  Bernard  and  Brown  Sequard  need  not  be  con- 
sidered here,  for  the  experimental  method  was  the  only  way  open 
to  either  of  them.  For  an  account  of  the  work  done,  before  Bernard, 
in  this  field  of  physiology,  see  Prof.  Stirling's  admirable  and  learned 
monograph,  Sojne  Apostles  of  Physiology  (Waterlow  &  Sons, 
London,  1902),  p.  104. 


THE    NERVOUS   SYSTEM  57 

been  misjudged,  before  Dernartrs  time,  in  tbe  light  of 
"  views  taken  from  the  Study  of  Anatomy  and  Natural 
Motions  "  : — 

"  I  remember  that  Sir  Charles  Bell  gave  the  increased 
size  of  the  vessels  in  blushing,  and  their  fulness  of  blood, 
as  an  example  of  the  increased  action  of  the  arteries  in 
driving  on  tlie  blood.  It  turns  out  to  be  just  the  reverse, 
inasmuch  as  it  is  owing  to  a  paralysis  of  the  nerves 
governing  the  muscular  coats  of  the  arteries." 

Claude  Bernard's  first  account  of  his  work  was 
communicated  to  the  Societe  de  Biologic  in  December 
185 1.  The  following  description  is  taken  from  his 
Lemons  de  Pliysiologie  Operatoire: — 

"  I  will  remind  you  how  I  was  led  to  the  discovery 
of  the  vaso-motor  nerves.  Starting  from  the  clinical 
observation,  made  long  ago,  that  in  paralysed  limbs  you 
find  at  one  time  an  increase  of  cold,  and  at  another  an 
increase  of  heat,  I  thought  this  contradiction  might  be 
explained  by  supposing  that,  side  by  side  with  the  general 
action  of  the  nervous  system,  the  sympathetic  nerve  might 
have  the  function  of  presiding  over  the  production  of 
heat ;  that  is  to  say,  that  in  the  case  where  the  paralysed 
limb  was  chilled,  I  supposed  the  sympathetic  nerve  to 
be  paralysed,  as  well  as  the  motor  nerves ;  while  in  the 
paralysed  limbs  that  were  not  chilled,  the  sympathetic 
nerve  had  retained  its  function,  the  systemic  nerves  alone 
having  been  attacked. 

"  This  was  a  theory,  that  is  to  say,  an  idea  leading 
me  to  make  experiments ;  and  for  these  experiments  I 
must  find  a  sympathetic  nerve-trunk  of  sufficient  size, 
going  to  some  organ  that  was  easy  to  observe,  and  must 
divide  this  trunk  to  see  what  would  happen  to  the  heat- 
supply  of  the  organ.  You  know  that  the  rabbit's  ear, 
and  the  cervical  sympathetic  nerve  of  this  animal,  offered 
us  the  required  conditions.  So  I  divided  the  nerve  ;  and 
immediately  my  experiment  gave  the  lie  direct  to  my 


58  EXPERIMENTS   ON    ANIMALS 

theory — Je  coupai  done  cc  filet  et  aussitot  F experie7ice 
do)ina  a  ition  hypotJicse  le  plus  eelatant  dementi.  I  had 
thought  that  the  section  of  the  nerve  would  suppress  the 
function  of  nutrition,  of  calorification,  over  which  the 
sympathetic  system  had  been  supposed  to  preside,  and 
would  cause  the  hollow  of  the  ear  to  become  chilled;  and 
here  was  just  the  opposite,  a  very  warm  ear,  with  great 
dilatation  of  its  vessels. 

''  I  need  not  remind  you  how  I  made  haste  to  abandon 
my  first  theory,  and  gave  myself  to  the  study  of  this  new 
state  of  things.  And  you  know  that  here  was  the  start- 
ing-point of  all  my  researches  into  the  vaso-motor  and 
thermic  system ;  and  the  study  of  this  subject  is  become 
one  of  the  richest  fields  of  experimental  physiology." 

Waller,  in  1853,  studied  the  vaso-motor  centre  in 
the  spinal  cord  ;  and  Schiff,  in  1856,  found  evidence  of 
the  existence  of  two  kinds  of  vaso-motor  nerves — those 
that  constrict  the  vessels,  and  those  that  dilate  them. 
This  view  w^as  finally  established  in  1858  b}'-  Claude 
Bernard's  experiments  on  the  chorda  tympani  and  the 
submaxillary  gland. 

The  Lecons  de  Physiologic  Operatoire  were  published 
in  1879.  Twenty  years  later,  Sir  Michael  Foster  says 
of  Bernard's  work  : — 

"It  is  almost  impossible  to  exaggerate  the  importance 
of  these  labours  of  Bernard  on  the  vaso-motor  nerves, 
since  it  is  almost  impossible  to  exaggerate  the  influence 
which  our  knowledge  of  the  vaso-motor  system,  spring- 
ing as  it  does  from  Bernard's  researches  as  from  its  fount 
and  origin,  has  exerted,  is  exerting,  and  in  widening 
measure  will  continue  to  exert,  on  all  our  physiological 
and  pathological  conceptions,  on  medical  practice,  and  on 
the  conduct  of  human  life.  There  is  hardly  a  physio- 
logical discussion  of  any  width  in  which  we  do  not 
sooner  or  later  come  on  vaso-motor  questions.  What- 
ever part  of  physiology  we  touch,  be  it  the  work  done  by 


THE    NERVOUS   SYSTEM  59 

a  muscle,  be  it  the  various  kinds  of  secretive  labour,  be 
it  the  insurance  of  the  brain'^s  well-being  in  the  midst  of 
the  hydrostatic  vicissitudes  to  which  the  changes  of  daily 
life  subject  it,  be  it  that  maintenance  of  bodily  tempera- 
ture which  is  a  condition  of  the  body's  activity' ;  in  all 
these,  as  in  many  other  things,  we  find  vaso-motor 
factors  intervening.  And  if,  passing  the  insecure  and 
wavering  line  which  parts  health  from  illness,  we  find 
ourselves  dealing  with  inflammation,  or  with  fever,  or 
with  any  of  the  disordered  physiological  processes 
which  constitute  disease,  we  shall  find,  whatever  be  the 
tissue  specially  affected  by  the  morbid  conditions,  that 
vaso-motor  influences  have  to  be  taken  into  account. 
The  idea  of  vaso-motor  action  is  w^oven  as  a  dominant 
thread  into  all  the  physiological  and  pathological  doc- 
trines of  to-day ;  attempt  to  draw  out  that  thread,  and 
all  that  would  be  left  would  appear  as  a  tangled  heap." 

5 .   Cerebral  Localisation 

Finally,  moving  upward  along  the  anatomy  of  the 
nervous  system,  physiology  came  to  study  the  motor- 
centres  and  special  sense-centres  of  the  cerebral  hemi- 
spheres. The  year  1861  may  fairly  be  said  to  mark 
the  beginning  of  the  discovery  of  these  centres,  when 
Broca,  at  a  meeting  of  the  Anthropological  Society  of 
Paris,  heard  Aubertin's  paper  on  the  connection  be 
tween  the  frontal  convolutions  and  the  faculty  of  speech 
But,  of  course,  some  sort  of  belief  in  cerebral  localisa- 
tion had  been  in  the  air  long  before  Broca's  time. 
Willis  (1621  — 1675),  who  was  contemporary  with  Sir 
Isaac  Newton,  had  written  of  the  brain  as  though 
its  convolutions,  or  '*  cranklings "  as  he  called  them, 
showed  that  its  work  was  departmental : — 

"As  the  animal  spirits  for  the  various  acts  of  imagina- 
tion and  memory  ought  to  be  moved  within  certain  and 


6o  EXPERIMENTS   ON    ANIMALS 

distinct  limits,  or  bounded  places,  and  these  motions 
to  be  often  iterated  or  repeated  through  the  same  tracts 
or  paths,  for  that  reason  these  manifold  convolutions  and 
infoldings  of  the  brain  are  required  for  these  divers 
manners  of  ordinations  of  the  animal  spirits — to  wit, 
that  in  these  cells  or  storehouses,  severally  placed,  might 
be  kept  the  species  of  sensitive  things,  and  as  occasion 
serves,  may  be  taken  from  thence."  ^ 

And  Gall,  a  century  after  Willis,  had  collected  and 
published,  in  support  of  his  system  of  phrenology, 
many  cases  and  post-mortem  examinations  showing  the 
differentiation  of  the  work  of  the  brain.  Gall  is  a 
warning  for  all  time  against  the  dangers  of  deduction  ; 
he  had  but  one  idea,  and  he  drove  it  to  death ;  but  the 
clinical  and  pathological  facts  which  he  amassed,  in  the 
hope  of  establishing  a  set  of  doctrines  out  of  all  relation 
to  facts,  are  as  true  now  as  ever  ;  and,  if  he  had  been 
content  to  go  the  way  of  induction,  and  to  set  himself 
to  the  accumulation  of  facts,  he  might  have  become 
a  great  physiologist.  In  his  knowledge  of  the  anatomy 
of  the  brain,  and  in  the  dissection  of  the  brain,  he  was 
far  ahead  of  the  men  of  his  time  ;  but  he  followed  his 
own  imaginings,  and  left  nothing  that  could  last,  except 
those  cases  and  pathological  instances  that  are  buried 
in  the  ruins  of  his  system.  But  there  they  are,  and 
are  still  of  value.  For  example.  Gall's  case  of  loss 
of  speech,  after  an  injury  involving  the  speech-centres, 
ought  to  have  commanded  the  attention  of  all  physi- 
ologists :  but  it  came  to  nothing,  because  he  used  it  to 
support  his  doctrine  of  organs  and  bumps,  and  it 
shared  the  fate  of  that  doctrine.       Phrenology  is  gone 

^  For  an  account  of  Willis'  work  on  the  nervous  system,  see  Sir 
Victor  Horsley's  Fulleria?!  Lectures^  1S91.  Willis  was  the  first,  or 
one  of  the  first,  to  recognise  the  fact  that  the  cerebral  ventricles 
are  nothing  more  than  lymph-cavities. 


THE    NERVOUS    SYSTEM  6i 

past  recall  ;  it  died  of  that  congenital  disease,  the 
deductive  fallacy  ;  but  there  was  a  time  when  it  might 
have  been  turned  to  the  service  of  science. 

The  excitement  that  Gall  aroused  by  the  spread  of 
his  ideas  shows  that  some  belief  in  cerebral  centres 
was  waiting  for  development.  All  men  are  by  nature 
phrenologists  ;  the  commonplace  excuses  that  are  offered 
for  lapses  of  memory,  venial  offences,  and  inherited 
weaknesses,  all  appeal  to  the  comfortable  notion  that 
the  offender  is  not  wholly  perverted,  and  that  some  very 
small  and  strictly  localised  group  of  cells  is  at  fault. 
And  it  is  probable  that  the  physiology  of  the  central 
nervous  system,  with  its  present  strong  tendency 
toward  psychology,  will  some  day  be  back,  at  a  far 
higher  level,  above  the  point  where  phrenology  went 
wrong.  As  Mme.  de  Stael  said,  L' esprit  Jiumain  fait 
progres  tonjours,  mais  cest  progres  en  spirale.  But 
the  question,  whether  the  general  desire  for  a 
rational  system  of  psychology  will  ever  commend 
itself  to  physiology,  belongs  to  the  future.  All  that 
is  of  present  concern  is  the  steady,  continuous,  and 
successful  advance,  by  the  way  of  induction,  and  by 
the  help  of  experiments  on  animals,  toward  a  clear 
and  accurate  statement  of  the  departmental  work  of 
the   brain. 

It  is  one  of  many  instances  how  science  and  practice 
work  together,  that  the  modern  study  of  these  centres 
began  not  in  experiment  but  in  experience.  The  first 
centres  that  were  thus  studied  were  the  speech -centres  ; 
and  the  observation  of  them  arose  out  of  the  cases 
recorded  by  Bouillard  in  1825,  and  Dax  in  1836. 
Clinical  observation,  and  post-mortem  examination, 
found  the  speech-centres  ;  physiological  experiments 
had    nothing   to    do  with    it  ;   and    phrenology    had,   as 


62  EXPERIMENTS   ON    ANIMALS 

it  were,  found  them,  and  then  lost  them.  But  at 
once,  so  soon  as  practice  gave  the  word  to  science, 
physiology  set  to  work.  These  clinical  facts  had  been 
there  all  th^  time  ;  loss  of  speech  had  gone  v/ith 
disease  or  injury  of  "  Broca's  convolution  "  ever  since 
man  had  been  on  the  earth,  and  nobody  had  seen 
the  significance  of  this  sequence.  Then,  after  1861, 
ever3^thing  was  changed  ;  and  in  a  few  years  physi- 
ology had  mapped  out  a  large  part  of  the  surface  of 
the  brain,  and  had  charted   the  motor-centres. 

The  story  of  Broca's  convolution  is  told  in  Hamilton's 
Text-Book  of  Pathology : — 

"  In  1825,  Bouillard  collected  a  series  of  cases  to  show 
that  the  faculty  of  speech  resided  in  the  frontal  lobes. 
In  the  year  1836  M.  Dax,  in  a  paper  read  to  the  Medical 
Congress  of  Montpellier,  stated  as  a  result  of  his  re- 
searches that,  where  speech  was  lost  from  cerebral  causes, 
he  believed  the  lesion  was  invariably  found  in  the  left 
cerebral  hemisphere,  and  that  the  accompanying  paralysis 
of  the  right  side  of  the  body  is  consequent  upon  this. 
This  paper  for  long  lay  buried  in  the  annals  of  medical 
literature,  but  was  unearthed  years  afterwards  by  his 
son,  and  presented  to  the  French  Academy.  Bouillard's 
views  were  also  disinterred  by  Aubertin,  and  in  the 
year  1861  were  brought  by  him  before  the  notice  of 
the  Anthropological  Society  of  Paris.  Broca,  who  was 
present  at  the  meeting,  had  a  patient  under  his  care 
at  the  time  who  had  been  aphasic  (without  power  of 
speech)  for  twenty-one  years,  and  who  was  in  an  almost 
moribund  state.  The  autopsy  proved  of  great  interest, 
as  it  was  found  that  the  lesion  was  confined  to  the  left 
side  of  the  brain,  and  to  what  we  now  call  the  third 
frontal  convolution.  Broca  was  struck  with  the  coinci- 
dence; and  when  a  similar  case  came  under  his  care 
afterwards,  unaware  of  what  had  been  done  by  Dax,  he 
postulated  the  conclusion  that  the  integrity  of  the  third 


THE    NERVOUS   SYSTEM  63 

frontal  convolution,  and  perhaps  also  part  of  the  second, 
is  essential  to  speech.  In  a  subsequent  series  of  fifteen 
typical  cases  examined,  it  was  found  that  the  lesion  had 
destroyed,  among  other  parts,  the  posterior  part  of  the 
third  frontal  in  fourteen.  In  the  fifteenth  case  the 
destruction  had  taken  place  in  the  island  of  Reil  and 
the  temporal  lobe." 

After  1 86 1,  ph^'siology  took  the  lead,  and  kept  it. 
But,  through  all  the  work,  science  and  practice  have 
been  held  together  ;  the  facts  of  experimental  phy- 
siology have  been  and  are  tested,  every  inch  of  the 
way,  by  the  facts  of  medicine,  surgery,  and  patholog3\ 
The  infinite  minuteness  and  complexit}'  of  the  investi- 
gation, and  its  innumerable  side-issues,  are  past  all 
telling.  They  who  are  doing  the  work,  in  science 
and  in  practice,  have  always  had  in  their  thoughts  the 
fear  of  fallacies  in  the  interpretation  of  these  highest 
forms  of  life.  Sir  William  Gowers,  fourteen  years  ago, 
wrote  as  follows  of  the  earlier  workers  : — 

*'  Doubt  was  formerly  entertained  as  to  the  existence  of 
differentiation  of  function  in  different  parts  of  the  cortex, 
but  recent  researches  have  established  the  existence  of  a 
differentiation  which  has  almost  revolutionised  cerebral 
physiology,  and  has  vastly  extended  the  range  of  cerebral 
diagnosis.  The  first  step  of  the  new  discovery  was  con- 
stituted b}'  the  clinical  and  pathological  obser\'ations  of 
Hughlings  Jackson,  which  suggested  the  existence,  on 
each  side  of  the  fissure  of  Rolando,  of  special  centres  for 
the  movements  of  the  leg,  arm,  and  face.  These  obser- 
vations led  to  the  experiments  of  Ferrier,  which  resulted 
in  the  demonstration  of  the  existence  in  the  cortex  of  the 
lower  animals  of  well-defined  regions,  stimulation  of 
which  caused  separate  movements,  or  evidence  of  special 
sense  excitation,  while  the  destruction  of  the  same  parts 
caused  indications  of  a  loss  of  the  corresponding  function. 


64  EXPERIMENTS   ON   ANIMALS 

Hence  he  came  to  the  conclusion  that  these  regions  con- 
stitute actual  motor  and  sensory  centres.  Ferrier  had, 
however,  been  anticipated  in  many  of  these  results  by 
two  German  experimenters,  Fritsch  and  Hitzig,  whose 
results,  differing  a  little  in  detail,  correspond  closely 
in  their  general  significance.  Many  other  investiga- 
tions of  the  same  character  have  since  been  made, 
of  which  those  of  Munk  are  especiall}'-  important.  The 
original  observations  of  Hughlings  Jackson  left  little 
doubt  that  the  general  facts,  learned  from  experiments 
on  animals,  are  true  of  man  ;  and  this  conclusion  has 
been  to  a  large  extent  confirmed  by  pathological  and 
clinical  observations  directed  to  the  verification  on  man 
of  the  pathological  results.  To  this  verification  the 
labours  of  Charcot  and  his  coadjutors  have  largely  con- 
tributed. But  the  verification  has  already  made  it 
probable  that  some  differences  exist  between  the  brain 
of  man  and  that  of  higher  animals  (even  of  monkeys), 
and  that  the  conclusions  from  the  latter  cannot  be  simply 
transferred  to  the  former." 


Many  and  great  difficulties,  beyond  this  danger  of 
the  fallacy  of  "  simple  transference,"  beset  every  step 
of  the  work :  it  required  the  right  use  of  the  most 
delicate  and  susceptible  instruments  and  tests,  and  the 
right  understanding  of  anatomy,  microscopic  anatomy, 
comparative  anatomy,  organic  chemistry,  electricity,  and 
physics :  every  moment  of  advance  must  be  guarded, 
every  word  must  be  weighed.  Among  the  earlier  diffi- 
culties, was  the  failure  of  almost  all  the  physiologists, 
before  Hitzig,  to  produce  muscular  action  by  excitation 
of  the  cerebral  cortex.  Longet,  Magendie,  Flourens, 
Matteuci,  Van  Deen,  Weber,  Budge,  and  Schiff,  had  all 
failed.  Hitzig  {Untersuchimgen  iiber  das  GehirJi,  Berlin, 
1874)  had  observed,  in  man,  that  it  was  easy  to  pro- 
duce  movements   of  the    eyes    by   the    passage    of   the 


THE    NERVOUS   SYSTEM  65 

constant  current  through  the  occipital  region.^  Taking 
this  fact  for  a  starting-point,  he  used  a  very  low  current, 
and  thereby  succeeded  in  producing  certain  definite 
muscular  movements  by  stimulation  of  the  cortex  in 
animals.      Of  Hitzig's  work,  Sir  Victor  Horsley  says  : — 

"It  was  not  till  1870  that  the  next  absolute  proof 
(after  Bell's  work  in  181 3)  was  obtained  of  the  localisa- 
tion of  function,  so  far  as  the  highest  centres  of  the 
nervous  system  were  concerned.  In  that  year  Fritsch 
and  Hitzig  discovered  that  electrical  excitation,  with 
minimal  stimuli,  of  various  points  of  the  cortex,  caused 
those  storehouses,  of  which  Willis  spoke,  to  discharge, 
and  to  reveal  their  function  by  the  precise  limitation  of 
the  groups  of  muscles  which  they  were  able  to  throw 
into  action.  These  researches  were  abundantly  con- 
firmed and  greatly  extended  by  Professor  Ferrier,  and 
thus  has  been  constructed  in  the  history  of  this  subject 
the  most  recent  great  platform  or  stage  of  permanent 
advance."  - 

The  thirty  years  since  Hitzig's  work  cannot  be  put 
here,  for  they  would  take  a  volume  to  themselves. 
There  have  been  differences  of  interpretation  of  this 
or  that  fact,  diversities  of  results,  and  problems  too 
hard  to  solve,  and  other  difficulties,  such  as  befall  all 
the  natural  sciences  ;  but  these  imperfections  amount  to 
very  little,  when  the  whole  result  comes  to  be  reckoned. 
The  marvel  is  that  the  work  is  so  nearly  perfect,  seeing 
its  immeasurable  complexity. 

^  That  the  surface  of  the  brain  is  not  sensitive  of  such  stimula- 
tion, that  it  does  not  perceive  its  own  substance,  v/as  known  to 
Aristotle.  The  fact  is  so  familiar  that  there  is  no  need  to  quote 
evidence  of  it,  beyond  that  of  Sir  Charles  Bell :  "  I  have  had  my 
finger  deep  in  the  anterior  lobes  of  the  brain,  when  the  patient, 
being  at  the  time  acutely  sensible,,  and  capable  of  expressing 
himself,  complained  only  of  the  integument." 

-  Horsley,  FulUrian  Lectures ^  1891,  loc.  cit. 

E 


66  EXPERIMENTS   ON    ANIMALS 

Let  any  man,  who  has  but  touched  the  stud}^  of 
physiology,  consider  what  is  involved  in  even  the  most 
superficial  observation  of  the  simplest  facts  of  the 
nervous  system :  for  instance,  the  ordinary  nerve- 
muscle  preparation  that  is  taught  to  every  medical 
student,  or  the  microscopic  structure  of  the  spinal  cord, 
or  the  Wallerian  method.  Or  let  him  consider  how  the 
physiology  of  the  nervous  system  has  been  founded  on 
the  lower  forms  of  life :  the  work  of  Romanes  and 
others  on  the  Medusa  and  the  Echinodermata,  and 
Huxley's  work  in  biology,  and  the  endless  chain  of 
forces  that  are  alike  in  man  and  in  jelly-fishes.  Then 
let  him  try  to  estimate  the  output  of  hard  thinking,  for 
the  advance  from  lower  to  higher  structures,  and  up  to 
man  ;  the  vigilant  criticism  of  all  theories  and  foregone 
conclusions,  the  incessant  self-judgment  and  wearisome 
doubts  and  disputes  all  the  way,  elusiveness  of  facts,  and 
vagueness  of  words.  And  the  results  thus  wrung  out 
of  science  had  still  to  be  stated  in  terras  of  practice,  and 
tested  by  the  facts  of  medicine,  surgery,  and  pathology, 
and  used  in  every  hospital  in  the  civilised  world,  not 
only  for  the  saving  of  life,  but  also  for  the  diagnosis  and 
medical  or  surgical  treatment  of  innumerable  varieties 
of  disease  or  injury  of  the  brain,  the  cord,  or  the  nerves. 
Sir  Michael  Foster,  in  a  short  summary  of  the  problems 
of  physiology,  puts  clearly  these  consummate  difficulties 
of  the  physiology  of  the  nervous  system  : — 

"  In  the  first  place  there  are  what  may  be  called 
general  problems,  such  as,  How  the  food,  after  its 
preparation  and  elaboration  into  blood,  is  built  up  into 
the  living  substance  of  the  several  tissues  ?  How  the 
living  substance  breaks  down  into  the  dead  waste  ? 
How  the  building  up  and  breaking  down  differ  in  the 
different  tissues  in   such  a  way  that  energy  is  set  free 


THE    NERVOUS   SYSTEM  67 

in  different  modes,  the  muscular  tissue  contracting,  the 
nervous  tissue  thrilHng  with  a  nervous  impulse,  the 
secreting  tissue  doing  chemical  work,  and  the  like  ?  To 
these  general  questions  the  answers  which  we  can  at 
present  give  can  hardly  be  called  answers  at  all. 

"  In  the  second  place  there  are  what  may  be  called 
special  problems,  such  as,  What  are  the  various  steps 
by  which  the  blood  is  kept  replenished  with  food  and 
oxygen,  and  kept  free  from  an  accumulation  of  water;  and 
how  is  the  activity  of  the  digestive,  respiratory,  and 
excretory  organs,  which  effect  this,  regulated  and  adapted 
to  the  stress  of  circumstances  ?  What  are  the  details  of 
the  vascular  mechanism  by  which  each  and  every  tissue 
is  for  ever  bathed  with  fresh  blood,  and  how  is  that 
working  delicately  adapted  to  all  the  varied  changes  of 
the  body?  And,  compared  with  which  all  other  probleins 
are  insignificant  a?id  preparatory  oyil}\  how  do  nerA'ous 
impulses  so  flit  to  and  fro  within  the  nervous  system  as 
to  issue  in  the  movements  which  make  up  what  we 
sometimes  call  the  life  of  man  ?  " 

The  physiology  of  the  nervous  system  is  wrought 
to  finer  issues  now  than  in  the  time  of  Bell  and 
Magendie ;  and  this  generation  of  students  may  live 
to  see  the  present  facts  and  methods  of  cerebral 
localisation  as  the  mere  rudiments  or  elements  of 
science.  Happily  for  mankind,  science  has  alread}'' 
so  far  elucidated  them  that  they  have  done  good 
service  for  the  diagnosis  and  treatment  of  disease, 
and   for  the   saving  of  lives. 


Some  examples  have  been  given,  in  the  foregoing 
chapters,  of  the  value  of  ph3'siological  experiments  on 
animals.  It  would  be  easy  to  lengthen  the  list,  for 
there  is  no  general  subject  in  all  ph^'siolog}'  that  does 
not    owe    something    to    this    method  :    as   Mr.   Darwin 


68  EXPERIMENTS   ON    ANIMALS 

said,  in  his  evidence  before  the  Royal  Commission  of 
1875,  **  I  am  fully  convinced  that  physiology  can  pro- 
gress only  by  the  aid  of  experiments  on  living  animals. 
I  cannot  think  of  an}'  one  step  which  has  been  made 
in  physiology  without  that  aid."  Many  examples  have 
been  left  out  altogether — the  work  of  Boyle,  Hunter, 
Lavoisier,  Haldane,  Despretz,  and  Regnault,  on  animal 
heat  and  on  respiration  ;  of  Petit,  Dupuy,  Breschet, 
and  Reid,  on  the  sympathetic  system  ;  of  Galvani, 
Volta,  Haller,  du  Bois-Reymond,  and  Pflliger,  on 
muscular  contractility  :  nothing  has  been  said  of  the 
work  lately  done  on  the  suprarenal  glands  and 
''  adrenalin,"  and  on  the  blood-pressure  in  its  relation 
to  secretion.  For  the  most  part,  only  those  examples 
have  been  taken  that  occur  far  back  in  the  history  of 
physiology  :  more  has  been  said  about  the  past  than 
about  the  present.  First,  because  it  was  necessary 
to  put  an  end  to  the  false  statements  that  are  made, 
b}'  those  who  are  opposed  to  all  experiments  on 
animals,  about  the  work  done  in  the  past.  Next, 
because  the  abstruse  details  of  ph3^siology,  in  the 
present,  are  not  intelligible  for  general  reading.  Next, 
because  it  is  impossible  now  to  isolate  physiology,  or 
to  say  what  belongs  to  ph^'-siology  alone,  to  have  back 
the  simpler  problems  of  the  past,  to  discover  the  cir- 
culation of  the  blood  twice.  But  the  experimental 
method,  ahke  in  the  past  and  in  the  present,  has  been 
the  chief  way  of  advance.  And  if  a  forecast  may  be 
made  without  offence,  it  is  certain  that  the  work  of 
ph3'siology,  as  in  the  past  and  the  present,  so  in  the 
near  future,  will  exercise  a  profound  influence  for  good 
on  medical  and  surgical  treatment.  Among  the  sub- 
jects that  especially  occupy  ph3^siologists  now  are,  the 
more  exact  localisation  and  interpretation  of  the  special 


THE   NERVOUS   SYSTEM  69 

sense-centres,  and  the  better  knowledge  of  the  internal 
secretions  and  chemical  influences  of  the  glands  and 
tissues  of  the  bod}'.  It  would  be  hard  to  find  two 
fields  of  work  more  sure  to  favour  the  growth  of  the 
arbor  vitce  side  by  side  with  the  arbor  scientice. 

But  the  last  word  here  must  be  said  by  a  physiologist 
of  the  very  highest  authority,  Professor  Starling.  He 
has  kindly  given  me,  for  this  edition,  the  following 
note  : — 

"Among  the  researches  of  the  last  thirty  years,  those 
bearing  on  the  Circulation  of  the  Blood  must  take  an 
important  place,  both  for  their  physiological  interest 
and  for  the  weight}'  influence  they  have  exerted  on 
our  knowledge  and  treatment  of  disorders  of  the 
vascular  system,  such  as  heart  disease.  We  have 
learned  to  measure  accurately  the  work  done  by  the 
great  heart-pump ;  and  by  studying  the  manner  in  w-hich 
this  work  is  affected  by  different  conditions,  w^e  are 
enabled  to  increase  or  diminish  it,  according  to  the 
needs  of  the  organ.  Experiments  in  what  is  often 
regarded  as  the  most  transcendental  department  of 
physiology — i.e.  that  which  treats  of  muscle  and  nerve — 
have  thrown  light  on  the  wonderful  process  of  '  compen- 
sation,' by  which  a  diseased  heart  is  able  to  keep  up  a 
normal  circulation. 

"  Vaso-motor  System. — Largely  by  the  labours  of 
British  physiologists,  the  exquisite  control  exercised  by 
the  nervous  system  over  every  blood-vessel  in  the  body 
has  been  brought  to  light,  the  paths  tracked  out,  and 
the  mechanisms  elucidated,  by  means  of  which  the 
circulation  through  each  part  of  the  body  is  subordinated 
to  the  needs  of  the  whole.  Since  the  chief  vaso-motor 
nerves  take  their  course  through  the  sympathetic  system, 
the  researches  on  their  distribution  have  led  to  the 
mapping  out  of  the  whole  of  this  system,  and  to  an 
accurate  knowledge  of  its  functions.  We  are  now 
acquainted   with    the    course,  to    all   parts  of  the   body, 


70  EXPERIMENTS   ON   ANIMALS 

of  the  nerves  which  not  only  determine  the  changes 
in  the  cahbre  of  the  blood-vessels,  but  affect  also  the 
secretion  of  sweat  and  the  erection  of  the  hairs. 
Incidentally,  the  mapping  out  of  these  nerves,  in  the 
hands  of  Mackenzie,  Head,  and  others,  has  led  to 
more  power  of  localising  the  seat  of  visceral  disease. 

*'  Digestion. — Our  knowledge  of  the  processes  of  diges- 
tion has  of  late  years  received  a  great  accession  by  the 
work  of  Professor  Pawlow,  of  St.  Petersburg.  His 
success  is  largely  due  to  his  recognition  of  the  import- 
ance of  keeping  his  experimental  animals  under  the 
most  normal  conditions  possible,  and  of  studying  the 
different  parts  of  the  alimentary  tract  in  animals  which 
were  not  anaesthetised,  but  which  were  free  from  any 
pain  or  even  discomfort,  either  of  which  conditions 
materially  interferes  with  the  activity  of  the  digestive 
glands.  He  therefore  established  in  dogs  fistulae  in 
chosen  portions  of  the  alimentary  canal,  analogous  to 
the  fistula  w^hich  accident  rendered  so  valuable  in  the 
case  of  Alexis  St.  Martin.  Not  only  has  the  knowledge 
thus  gained  enabled  the  physician  to  understand  the 
sequel  of  events  in  disordered  digestion,  but  the  success 
of  the  operative  measures  undertaken  by  physiologists 
for  the  elucidation  of  their  science  has  emboldened 
surgeons  to  attack  disease  in  the  most  various  parts 
of  the  alimentary  canal. 

"  Renewed  study  of  the  secretion  of  pancreatic  juice 
evoked  by  the  passage  of  the  acid  digestive  products 
from  the  stomach  into  the  small  intestine,  which  had 
been  described  by  Pawlow,  has  resulted  in  the  discovery 
of  a  new  class  of  chemical  agents,  which  act  as  special 
messengers  from  one  part  of  the  body  to  another,  and 
exercise  an  important  function  in  determining  the  action 
of  all  parts  to  one  common  end. 

"  Respiration. — The  investigation  of  the  chemical  pro- 
perties of  the  colouring  matter  of  blood,  and  of  its 
compound  with  carbon  monoxide,  has  resulted,  in  the 
hands  of  Dr.  Haldane,  in  the  laying  down  of  measures 
for   the   prevention    of  accidents    from    choke-damp   or 


THE    NERVOUS   SYSTEM  71 

after-damp  in  mines.  The  same  investigation  has 
resulted  in  the  discovery  of  a  metliod  of  determining 
the  total  amount  of  blood  circulating  in  the  body  of 
a  living  man.  The  application  of  this  method  has 
already  added  largely  to  our  knowledge  of  the  pathology 
of  different  forms  of  anaemia,  as  well  as  of  the  conditions 
obtaining  in  heart  disease.  Experiments  by  Hill  and 
others  on  the  physiological  effects  of  compressed  air 
have  shown  the  precautions  which  should  be  observed 
in  all  diving  operations.  A  proper  appreciation  of  these 
results  by  diving-engineers  would  not  only  entirely 
obviate  the  cases  of  *  caisson  disease/  but  would  enable 
diving  to  be  carried  on  safely  to  a  greater  depth  than  has 
hitherto  been  attempted. 

*'  It  is  impossible,  however,  to  enumerate  all  the  phy- 
siological gains  of  the  last  twenty  or  thirty  years, 
or  to  point  out  their  manifold  applications  in  the  cure 
and  prevention  of  disease.  The  full  control  of  the  pro- 
cesses of  disease,  which  is  the  goal  of  the  physician 
and  the  surgeon,  can  only  be  attained  through  an 
accurate  knowledge  of  the  conditions  governing  the 
functions  of  the  healthy  body.  The  foundation  of 
medicine  and  surgery  is  physiolog}' :  and  it  is  only  on 
living  animals  that  the  processes  of  life  can  be  investi- 
gated." 


PART  II 

EXPERIMENTS   IN    PATHOLOGY, 

MATERIA   MEDICA,    AND 

THERAPEUTICS 


I 


INFLAMMATION,   SUPPURATION,  AND 
BLOOD-POISONING 

Pathology,  the  study  of  the  causes  and  products  of 
diseases,  is  a  younger  science  than  physiology :  the  use 
of  the  microscope  was  the  beginning  of  pathology ;  and 
the  microscope,  even  so  late  as  sixty  years  ago,  was 
ver}'  different  to  the  microscope  now.  The  great 
pathologists  of  that  time  had  not  the  lenses,  micro- 
tomes, and  reagents  that  are  now  in  daily  employ- 
ment ;  they  knew  nothing  of  the  present  methods  of 
section  -  cutting  and  differential  staining.  But  the 
publication  in  1 839  of  Schwann's  cell-theory  marks 
the  rise  of  modern  pathology.  In  1843,  Darwin  wrote 
his  first  draft  of  the  doctrine  of  the  origin  of  species  ; 
and  Pasteur,  that  year,  was  in  for  his  examination  at 
the  Ecole  Normale.  The  work  of  Schwann,  Virchow, 
and  Pasteur  had  such  profound  influences  on  science 
that  the  span  of  sixty  years  seems  to  cover  the  modern 
development  of  pathology  :  and  this  span  of  years  is 
marked,  half-way,  by  the  rise  of  bacteriology.  In 
1875,  when  the  Royal  Commission  on  Experiments 
on  Animals  was  held  in  London,  the  evidence  was 
concerned  practically  with  physiology  alone  :  very  little 
was  said  about  pathology,  and  of  bacteriology  hardly 
a  word.      The  witnesses  say   that   they   '*  believe  they 

are   beginning  to  get   an   idea "  of   the   true  nature  of 

75 


76  EXPERIMENTS   ON   ANIMALS 

tubercle  :  and  the  evidence  as  to  the  nature  of  anthrax, 
given  by  Sir  John  Simon,  reads  now  like  a  very  old 
prophecy  : — 

*^  We  are  going  through  a  progressive  work  that  has 
many  stages,  and  are  now  getting  more  precise  know- 
ledge of  the  contagium.  By  these  experiments  on  sheep 
it  has  been  made  quite  clear  that  the  contagium  of  sheep- 
pox  is  something  of  which  the  habits  can  be  studied^  as  the 
habits  of  a  fern  or  a  moss  can  be  studied :  and  we  look 
forward  to  opportunities  of  thus  studying  the  contagium 
outside  the  body  which  it  ififects.  This  is  not  a  thing  to 
be  doiie  i^i  a  day,  or  perhaps  in  ten  years,  but  must 
extend  over  a  long  period  of  time.  Dr.  Klein's  present 
paper  represents  one  very  important  stage  of  a  vast 
special  study.  He  gives  the  identification  of  the  con- 
tagium as  so7nething  which  he  has  studied  to  the  end  in 
the  infected  body,  and  which  can  now  in  a  future  stage 
be  studied  outside  the  bodyT 

Thirty  years  ago,  there  was  no  bacteriology,  in  the 
present  sense  of  the  word  :  and  now  the  "  habits  "  of 
these  "contagia'^'  have  been  studied,  outside  and  inside 
the  body,  with  amazing  accuracy.  It  has  been  proved, 
past  all  possibility  of  doubt,  that  the  pathogenic  bac- 
teria are  the  cause  of  infective  diseases  ;  they  have 
fulfilled  Koch's  postulates — that  they  should  be  found 
in  the  diseased  tissues,  be  cultivated  outside  the  body, 
reproduce  the  same  disease  in  animals,  and  be  found 
again  in  the  tissues  of  those  animals.  By  an  im- 
measurable amount  of  hard  work  crowded  into  a  few 
years,  this  New  World  of  bacteriology  has  been  sub- 
dued. The  Royal  Commissioners  of  1875,  speaking 
of  physiological  experiments  only,  said,  "  It  would 
require  a  voluminous  treatise  to  exhibit  in  a  consecu- 
tive statement   the   benefits   that   medicine  and  surgery 


INFLAMMATION,  SUPPURATION,  ETC.       77 

have  derived  from  these  discoveries."  If  physiology  in 
1875  required  a  treatise,  bacteriology  in  1906  requires 
a  library  :  and  it  is  impossible  here  to  give  more  than 
the  faintest  outline  of  some  of  the  work  that  has  been 
done. 

But  all  pathology  is  not  bacteriology  ;  and  it  would 
take  a  treatise  of  prodigious  length  to  set  forth  the 
work  of  modern  pathology  in  the  years  before  anything 
was  known  of  bacteria.  The  microscopic  structure  of 
tumours  and  of  all  forms  of  malignant  disease,  the 
nature  of  am3^1oid,  fatty,  and  other  degenerative 
changes,  and  the  chief  facts  of  general  pathology — 
hypertrophy  and  atrophy,  necrosis,  gangrene,  em- 
bolism, and  many  more — all  these  subjects  were 
studied  to  good  purpose,  before  bacteriology.  Above 
all,  men  were  occupied  in  the  study  of  inflammation 
under  the  microscope.  It  was  this  use  of  the  micro- 
scope that  revolutionised  pathology ;  especially,  it  made 
visible  the  whole  process  of  inflammation,  the  most 
minute  changes  in  the  affected  tissues,  the  slowing  and 
arrest  of  the  blood  in  the  capillaries,  the  choking-up 
of  the  stream,  and  the  escape  of  blood-cells  out  of  the 
capillaries  into  the  tissues.  Everything  had  been  made 
ready  for  the  fuller  interpretation  that  was  coming 
from  bacteriology  :  the  old  naked-eye  descriptions  of 
inflammation  were  left  behind ;  men  set  aside  the 
definition  of  Celsus,  that  it  was  rubor  et  tumor  cum 
calore  et  dolore — words  that  sound  like  Moliere's  jest 
about  the  vis  dormitiva  of  opium — they  watched  inflam- 
mation under  the  microscope,  in  such  transparent 
structures  as  the  frog's  web  and  mesentery,  the  bat's 
wing,  and  the  tadpole's  tail.  It  was  thus  that  Wharton 
Jones  discovered  the  rh3^thmical  contraction  of  the 
veins  in  the  bat's  wing.      The  discovery  of  the  escape 


78  EXPERIMENTS   ON    ANIMALS 

of  the  white  blood-cells,  diapedesis,  through  the  walls 
of  the  capillaries,  was  made  by  Waller  and  Cohnheim. 
To  those  who  are  opposed  to  all  experiments  on 
animals,  it  may  seem  a  very  small  thing  that  a  blood- 
cell  should  be  on  one  side  or  the  other  of  a  micro- 
scopic film  in  a  tadpole's  tail  ;  but  this  diapedesis,  the 
first  move  of  the  blood  in  its  fight  against  disease,  is 
now  seen,  in  the  light  of  Metschnikoft''s  work,  as  a  fact 
of  very  great  importance. 

The  history  of  this  transitional  period,  from  the 
study  of  inflammation  in  transparent  living  tissues  to 
the  use,  in  surgery,  of  the  facts  of  bacteriology,  is  told 
in  Lord  Lister's  Huxley  Lecture,  October  1900.  He 
describes  how  the  foundations  were  laid  in  surgical 
pathology,  by  microscopical  and  experimental  work  on 
inflammation,  coagulation,  suppuration,  and  pyaemia, 
for  bacteriology  to  build  on  :  how  his  own  share  of  the 
work  began  when  he  was  house-surgeon  to  Sir  John 
Erichsen  at  Universit}^  College  Hospital,  and  afterward 
to  Mr.  Syme  in  Edinburgh,  and  how  it  was  continued 
through  all  his  Edinburgh  and  Glasgow  life  : — 

"  After  being  appointed  to  the  Chair  of  Surgery  in  the 
University  of  Glasgow,  I  became  one  of  the  surgeons  to 
the  Royal  Infirmary  of  that  cit3^  Here  I  had,  too,  ample 
opportunities  for  studying  hospital  diseases,  of  which  the 
most  fearful  was  pyaemia.  About  this  time  I  saw  the 
opinion  expressed  by  a  high  authority  in  pathology  that 
the  pus  in  a  pyaemic  vein  was  probably  a  collection  of 
leucocytes.  Facts  such  as  those  which  I  mentioned  as 
having  aroused  my  interest  in  my  student  days  in  a  case 
of  pyaemia,  made  such  a  view  to  me  incredible ;  and  I 
determined  to  ascertain,  if  possible,  the  real  state  of  things 
by  experiment.  .  .   . 

"  While  these  investigations  into  the  nature  of  pyaemia 
were  proceeding,    I    was  doing  my  utmost  against   that 


INFLAMMATION,  SUPPURATION,  ETC.       79 

deadly  scourge.  Professor  Polli,  of  Milan,  having  recom- 
mended the  internal  administration  of  sulphite  of  potash 
on  account  of  its  antiputrescent  properties,  I  gave  that 
drug  a  very  full  trial  as  a  prophylactic.  ...  At  the  same 
time,  I  did  my  best,  by  local  measures,  to  diminish  the 
risk  of  communicating  contagion  from  one  wound  to 
another.  I  freely  employed  antiseptic  washes,  and  I  had 
on  the  tables  of  my  wards  piles  of  clean  towels  to  be  used 
for  drying  my  hands  and  those  of  my  assistants  after 
washing  them,  as  I  insisted  should  invariably  be  done  in 
passing  from  one  dressing  to  another.  But  all  my  efforts 
proved  abortive ;  as  I  could  hardly  wonder  when  I  be- 
lieved, with  chemists  generally,  that  putrefaction  was 
caused  by  the  oxygen  of  the  air. 

"It  will  thus  be  seen  that  I  was  prepared  to  welcome 
Pasteur's  demonstration  that  putrefaction,  like  other  true 
fermentations,  is  caused  by  microbes  growing  in  the 
putrescible  substance.  Thus  was  presented  a  new  prob- 
lem :  not  to  exclude  oxygen  from  the  wounds,  which  was 
impossible,  but  to  protect  them  from  the  living  causes  of 
decomposition  by  means  which  should  act  with  as  little 
disturbance  of  the  tissues  as  is  consistent  with  the  attain- 
ment of  the  essential  object.  ...  To  apply  that  principle, 
so  as  to  ensure  the  greatest  safety  with  the  least  atten- 
dant disadvantage,  has  been  my  chief  life-work.^ 

And,  of  course,  the  application  of  that  principle  is 
not  limited  to  the  performance  of  the  major  operations 
of  surgery.  It  is  in  daily  use  in  every  hospital,  and  in 
every  practice  all  the  world  over,  for  the  safe  and  quick 
healing  of  whole  legions  of  injuries,  "  casualties,"  and 
minor  operations. 

But  what  of  Semmelweis,  and  his  study  of  puerperal 
fever  ?  Did  he  not,  before  Lord  Lister,  and  without 
the  help  of  experiments   on   animals,  discover  antiseptic 

1  See  also  the  admirable  Life  of  Pasteur,  by  M.  Valler>'-Radot. 
Translation  by  Mrs.  Devonshire,  vol.  ii.  p.  20. 


8o  EXPERIMENTS   ON   ANIMALS 

surgery  ?  His  claim  is  urged  by  those  who  are  opposed 
to  all  such  experiments.  And  the  answer  is,  that  his 
work  was  lost  just  for  want  of  experiments  on  animals. 
If  he  could  have  demonstrated,  as  Pasteur  did,  the  living 
organism,  the  thing  itself,  there  in  the  tissues  of  an 
infected  rabbit,  and  in  a  test-tube,  and  under  a  micro- 
scope, he  might  have  stopped  the  mouths  of  his  adver- 
saries. He  could  not.  He  could  only  demonstrate  to 
them  the  fact  that  their  patients  died,  and  his  patients 
lived  :  and  that  some  sort  of  direct  infection  was  the 
cause  of  the  deaths.  The  traged}^  of  his  life  cannot  be 
told  too  often,  and  may  be  told  again  here.'^  For  want 
of  the  final  proof  that  bacteriolog}^,  and  the  inoculation 
of  animals,  alone  could  give,  he  was  unable  to  hold  out 
against  his  enemies  till  Pasteur  could  rescue  him. 

In  1846,  when  he  was  tw^enty-three  years  old,  Ignaz 
Semmelweis  was  appointed  assistant-professor  in  the 
maternity  department  of  the  huge  general  hospital  of 
Vienna.  For  many  years,  the  mortahty  in  the  lying-in 
wards  had  been  about  1.25  per  cent.,  and  no  more. 
Then,  under  a  new  professor,  it  had  risen  ;  and,  for 
some  years  before  Semmelweis  came  on  the  scene,  it 
had  been  5  per  cent.,  or  even  7  per  cent.  In  October 
1 84 1,  there  had  been  an  epidemic  that  had  lasted  till 
May  1843.  In  these  twenty  months,  out  of  5139 
women  delivered,  829  had  died;  that  is  to  say,  16 
per  cent. 

There  were  two  sets  of  wards  in  the  maternity  de- 
partment. The  one  set  may  be  called  Chnique  A,  and 
the  other  Clinique  B.  For  many  years,  the  mortality 
had  been  the   same  in   each.      In    1841    a  change   was 

1  This  account  of  Semmelweis^  reprinted  by  permission  from  the 
Middlesex  Hospital  Joii7-7ial^  is  mostly  taken  from  Dr.  Theodore 
Duka's  excellent  paper  on  "  Childbed  Fever."     {Laiicet,  1886.) 


INFLAMMATION,  SUPPURATION,  ETC.       8i 

made :  Cliniquc  A  was  assigned  to  the  teaching  of 
students,  and  CHnique  B  to  the  teaching  of  midwives  : 
and,  so  soon  as  this  change  had  been  made,  the  mortahty 
in  Chnique  B  became  less,  but  the  mortality  in  Cliniquc  A 
did  not.  Commissions  of  inquiry  were  held,  and  in 
vain.  It  was  suggested  that  the  foreign  students  were 
somehow  to  blame,  nobody  knew  why  ;  and  many  of 
them  were  sent  away.  Still  the  deaths  went  on. 
Women  admitted  to  Clinique  A  would  go  down  on  their 
knees  and  pray  to  be  allowed  to  go  home  ;  almost  every 
day  the  bell  was  heard  ringing  in  the  wards,  for  the  ad- 
ministration of  the  Sacrament  to  a  dying  woman.  People 
talked  about  atmospheric  influences,  and  overcrowding, 
and  the  tainted  air  of  old  wards,  and  the  power  of  the 
mind  over  the  body  :  and  Semmelweis  set  to  work. 

He  observed  that  cases  of  protracted  labour  in  Clin- 
ique A  died,  almost  all  of  them  ;  but  not  in  Clinique  B. 
He  observed  also  that  cases  of  premature  labour,  nearly 
all  of  them,  did  well,  whichever  Clinique  they  were 
in ;  so  did  those  women  who  were  delivered  before 
they  came  to  the  hospital,  and  were  admitted  after  de- 
livery. He  observed  also  that  a  row  of  patients,  lying 
side  by  side,  would  all  be  attacked  at  once  in  Clin- 
ique A  ;  which  never  happened  in  Clinique  B.  He  tried 
everything  :  he  altered  the  details  of  treatment ;  he  used 
various  subterfuges  to  prevent  one  of  the  professors 
from  examining  serious  cases ;  he  enforced  this  or  that 
rule  in  Clinique  A,  because  it  was  the  custom  in  Clin- 
ique B  ;  he  slaved  away  at  the  notes  of  the  cases — and 
at  last  the  truth  came  to  him,  by  the  death  of  one  of 
his  friends  from  a  dissection-wound.  He  says,  "  My 
friend's  fatal  symptoms  unveiled  to  my  mind  an  iden- 
tity with  those  which  I  had  so  often  noticed  at  the 
deathbeds  of  puerperal  cases."      He  saw  now  that   the 

F 


82  EXPERIMENTS   ON   ANIMALS 

students,  coming  straight  from  the  dissecting-rooms,  had 
infected  the  patients  during  examination. 

In  May  1 847  he  gave  orders  that  every  student, 
before  examining,  should  thoroughly  disinfect  his  hands. 
But,  though  he  had  reckoned  with  dissecting-room 
poisons,  he  had  forgotten  to  reckon  with  other  sources 
of  infection.  In  October  of  that  year,  a  woman  was 
admitted  who  had  malignant  disease  ;  of  twelve  women 
examined  after  her,  eleven  got  puerperal  fever,  and  died. 
In  November,  a  woman  was  admitted  who  had  a  sup- 
purating knee-joint,  with  sinuses  ;  and  eight  women 
were  infected  from  her,  and  died.  Therefore  Semmel- 
weis  said,  ''  Not  only  can  the  particles  from  dead  bodies 
generate  puerperal  fever,  but  any  decomposed  material 
from  the  living  body  can  also  generate  it,  and  so  can 
air  contaminated  by  such  materials."  Henceforth  he 
isolated  all  infected  cases,  he  enforced  the  strict  use  of 
disinfectants  :  and  the  mortality  in  Clinique  A,  which  in 
May  1847  had  stood  at  12.24  P^i*  cent.,  fell  in  December 
to  3.04,  and  in  1848  was  1.27. 

His  work  was  taken  up  with  enthusiasm  by  Hebra, 
Skoda,  and  Haller  ;  the  news  of  it  was  sent  to  every 
capital  in  Europe.  In  February  1 849  Haller  read  a 
paper  on  it  before  the  Medical  Society  of  Vienna,  and 
said,  "  The  importance  of  these  observations  is  above  all 
calculation,  both  for  the  maternity  department  and  for  the 
hospitals  in  general^  but  particularly  for  the  surgical  wards!' 
A  committee  was  nominated  to  report  on  the  whole 
matter  ;  but  it  was  opposed  by  the  professor  in  charge 
of  Clinique  A,  and  nothing  came  of  it.  In  May  18 50, 
Semmelweis  opened  a  great  debate  on  puerperal  fever, 
which  occupied  three  sittings  of  the  Vienna  Medical 
Society.  His  opponents  were  there  in  full  force,  all  the 
Scribes  and  Pharisees  of  the  profession.      They  brought 


INFLAMMATION,  SUPPURATION,  ETC.       83 

about  a  vague  distrust  of  his  figures  and  his  facts  ;  they 
got  people  to  believe  that  there  must  be  "  something 
else  "  in  puerperal  fever,  as  well  as  the  local  infection. 
Semmelweis  began  to  be  discouraged.  The  University 
authorities  made  a  dead  set  against  him — they  refused 
to  renew  his  appointment,  they  got  him  out  of  the 
hospital,  and  out  of  \'ienna.  He  went  to  Pesth,  and 
was  Professor  of  Midwifery  there  ;  but  the  same  oppo- 
sition and  hostilit}^  were  at  Pesth  as  at  Vienna.  Slowly 
he  began  to  lose  his  hold  over  himself,  went  down  hill, 
became  excitable  and  odd.  The  end  came  in  Jul}-  1865. 
At  a  meeting  of  University  professors,  he  suddenly''  took 
a  paper  from  his  pocket  and  read  aloud  to  them  a  solemn 
oath,  to  be  enforced  on  every  midwife  and  every  doctor. 
His  mind  had  given  way  :  he  was  moved  to  an  asylum 
at  Vienna,  and  died  there  a  few  weeks  later.  He  was 
only  forty-two  when  he  died — IVJiat  a  n'onnded  name^ 
Things  standing  thus  U7iknozi'n,  shall  live  behind  me. 

The  contrast  between  the  work  of  Semmelweis  and 
the  work  of  Pasteur  cuts  like  a  knife  here.  The  failure 
of  Semmelweis'  teaching  ma}'  be  estimated  by  the  fact 
that  it  had  all  to  be  done  over  again.  The  3'ear  of  his 
success  at  Vienna  was  1848.  Eight  3'ear5  later,  in  the 
Paris  Maternit}'  Hospital,  between  ist  April  and  loth 
May  1856,  came  such  an  outbreak  of  puerperal  fever 
that  out  of  347  patients  64  died.  In  1864,  out  of 
1350  cases,  310  deaths.  In  Jan.— Feb.  1866,  out  of 
103  cases,  28  deaths:  ''Women  of  the  lower  classes 
looked  upon  the  Maternite  as  the  vestibule  of  death." 
In  1877-78,  came  the  use  of  carbolic  acid  and  perchloride 
of  mercury  at  the  hospital,  thirt}'  years  after  Semmel- 
weis' work :  and,  about  the  same  time,  Pasteur's  dis- 
covery of  the  streptococcus  in  puerperal  fever. ^  Pasteur 
^  See  Pasteur^s  Life,  vol.  ii.  p.  89. 


84  EXPERIMENTS    ON    ANIMALS 

could  demonstrate  to  his  opponents  the  visible  cause  of 
the  infection,  the  thing  itself.      Roux  tells  the  story  : — 

"  Dans  le  pus  des  abces  chauds  et  dans  celui  des 
furoncles  on  constate  un  petit  organisme  arrondi,  dispose 
en  amas,  qu'on  cultive  facilement  dans  le  bouillon.  On 
le  retrouve  dans  I'osteomyelite  infectieuse  des  enfants, 
Pasteur  affirme  que  Tost^om^'elite  et  le  furoncle  sont  deux 
formes  d'une  meme  maladie,  et  que  I'osteomyelite  est  le 
furoncle  de  I'os.  En  1878,  cette  assertion  a  fait  rire  bien 
les  chirurgiens. 

'*  Dans  les  infections  puerperales,  les  caillots  renferment 
un  microbe  a  grains  arrondis  se  disposant  en  files.  Get 
aspect  en  chapelet  est  surtout  manifeste  dans  les  cultures. 
Pasteur  n'hesite  pas  a  declarer  que  cet  organisme  micro- 
scopique  est  la  cause  la  plus  frequente  des  infections  chez 
les  femmes  accouchees.  Un  jour,  dans  une  discussion 
sur  la  fievre  puerperale  a  I'Academie  de  Medicine,  un  de 
ses  collegues  le  plus  ecoutes  dissertait  eloquemment  sur 
les  causes  des  epidemics  dans  les  maternites.  Pasteur 
I'interrompt  de  sa  place :  Ce  qui  cause  Vepidemiej  ce  n'est 
rieii  de  tout  cela  :  c  est  le  medecin  et  son  personnel  qui 
transportent  le  microbe  dune  femme  inalade  a  7i7ie  feinme 
saine.  Et  comme  I'orateur  repondit  qu'il  craignait  fort 
qu'on  ne  trouve  jamais  ce  microbe,  Pasteur  s'elance 
vers  le  tableau  noir,  dessine  I'organisme  en  chapelet 
de  grains,  en  disant,  Te7iez,  void  sa  figured  (Roux, 
L  CEuvre  Medicate  de  Pasteur.  Agenda  du  Chimisie^ 
1896,  p.   528.) 

All  suppuration,  and  all  forms  of  "  blood-poisoning " 
— abscesses,  boils,  carbuncles,  erysipelas,  puerperal 
fever,  septicaemia,  pygemia — are  due  to  minute  organ- 
isms, various  kinds  of  micrococcus.  It  has  indeed 
been  shown  that  suppuration  may,  in  exceptional 
conditions,  occur  without  micro-organisms :  but  prac- 
tically every  case  of  suppuration  is  a  case  of  infection 
either  from    without   or   from   within   the   body.      There 


INFLAMMATION,  SUPPURATION,  ETC.       85 

is  no  room  here  for  any  account  of  the  work  spent  on 
these  micrococci :  on  their  identification,  isolation,  cul- 
ture, and  inoculation.  It  is  the  same  with  all  the 
pathogenic  bacteria — each  kind  has  its  own  habits, 
phases  and  idiosyncrasies,  antagonisms  and  preferences  : 
nothing  is  left  unstudied — the  influences  of  air,  light, 
heat,  and  chemistry ;  all  the  facts  of  their  growth, 
division,  range  of  variation,  grades  of  virulence,  vitality, 
and  products  ;  the  entire  life  and  death  of  each  species, 
and  everything  that  it  is,  and  does,  and  can  be  made  to 
do.  The  difficulties  of  bacteriology  are  written  across 
every  page  of  the  text-books  :  above  all,  the  difficulties 
of  attenuating  or  intensif3'ing  the  virulence  of  bacteria, 
and  of  immunising  animals,  and  of  procuring  from  them 
an  immunising  serum  of  exact  and  constant  strength. 
Every  antitoxin  is  the  outcome  of  an  immeasurable 
expenditure  of  hard  international  work,  unsurpassed 
in  all  science  for  the  fineness  of  its  methods  and  the 
closeness  of  its  arguments. 

The  older  theories  of  disease  had  attributed  infection 
to  the  intemperature  of  the  weather,  the  powers  of  the 
air,  or  the  work  of  the  devil ;  later,  men  recognised  that 
there  must  be  a  materies  morbi^  something  particulate, 
transmissible,  and  perhaps  alive,  but  it  was  still  a 
"  nameless  something."  Therefore,  they  over-estimated 
the  constitutional,  personal  aspect  of  a  case  of  infective 
disease,  against  the  plain  evidence  of  case-to-case  infec- 
tion or  inoculation  :  the}'  studied  with  infinite  care  and 
minuteness  the  weather,  the  environment,  the  family 
history,  the  previous  illnesses  of  the  patient — every- 
thing, except  the  immediate  cause  of  the  trouble.  But 
modern  pathology,  like  Pasteur,  says,  Tcne2,  void  sa 
figure. 

The   antiseptic  method    was    based    on    bacteriology, 


86  EXPERIMENTS   ON    ANIMALS 

resting  as  it  did  on  the  proof  afforded  by  Pasteur  that 
putrefaction  was  caused  by  bacteria,  and  not  by  the 
oxygen  of  the  air,  as  had  been  previously  beheved.  If 
any  man  would  measure  one  very  small  part  of  the  lives 
that  are  saved  by  this  method,  let  him  contrast  the 
treatment  of  empyema  fifty  years  ago  with  its  treatment 
now.  If  he  would  measure  the  saving,  not  of  lives  but 
of  limbs,  let  him  take  the  treatment  of  compound  frac- 
tures. If  he  would  measure  the  saving  of  patients  from 
pain,  fever,  and  long  confinement  to  bed,  let  him  take 
the  ordinary  run  of  surgical  cases,  not  only  the  major 
operations  but  all  abscesses,  lacerated  wounds,  foul 
sores,  and  so  forth. 

A  serum  has  also  been  used  of  late  years  for  the 
treatment  of  micrococcus-infection,  and  has  given  good 
results  in  many  cases.  It  has  been  used,  also,  to 
avert  the  risk  of  such  infection  in  certain  operations 
where  the  antiseptic  method  cannot  be  strictly  carried 
out.  For  the  use  of  a  "  polyvalent "  serum,  reference 
may  be  made  to  the  recent  paper  by  Dr.  W.  S.  Fenwick 
and  Dr.  Parkinson.     {Trans.  Roy.  Med.  Chir.  Soc,   1906.) 


II 

ANTHRAX 

In  animals,  anthrax  is  also  called  charborif  splenic  fever, 
or  splenic  apoplexy :  in  man,  the  name  of  malignant 
pustule  is  given  to  the  sore  at  the  point  of  accidental 
inoculation,  and  the  name  of  woolsortcrs  disease  is 
given  to  those  cases  of  anthrax  where  the  lungs  are 
infected  by  inhalation  of  the  spores  of  the  bacillus 
anthracis.  The  disease  occurs  among  hide-dressers, 
woolsorters,  brushmakers,  and  rag-pickers  :  among 
animals,  it  occurs  in  sheep,  cattle,  horses,  and 
swine  : — 

'*  Many  of  the  outbreaks  of  anthrax  in  England  have 
been  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Bradford,  and  have  been 
traced  to  the  use  of  infected  wool-refuse  as  manure.  A 
map  published  by  the  Board  of  Agriculture  shows  that 
the  outbreaks  of  anthrax  are  most  frequent  in  those 
counties  of  Great  Britain  where  dry  foreign  wools,  hairs, 
hides,  and  skins  are  manufactured  into  goods.  In  1892, 
there  were  forty-two  outbreaks  of  anthrax  in  the  West 
Riding  of  Yorkshire,  as  against  two  in  the  North  Riding, 
and  one  in  the  East  Riding.  An  undoubted  fact  in  con- 
nection with  anthrax  is  its  tendency  to  recur  on  certain 
farms.  During  1895,  the  disease  reappeared  on  twenty- 
three  farms  or  other  premises  in  England,  and  six  in 
Scotland,  where  it  had  been  reported  in  the  previous 
year."  (Dr.  Poore's  Milroy  Lectures,  On  the  Earth 
m  relation  to  Contagia,  1899.) 

87 


88  EXPERIMENTS   ON    ANIMALS 

An  admirable  account  of  the  disease,  as  it  occurs  in 
man,  is  given  by  Dr.  Hamer  and  Dr.  Bell,  in  the 
valuable  series  of  monographs  edited  by  Dr.  Oliver 
of  Newcastle,  under  the  title  Dangerous  Trades  (London, 
John  Murray,  1902).  Happily,  the  disease  is  very 
rare  among  men,  even  among  those  most  exposed  to 
it.  For  its  treatment  in  man,  an  antitoxin  has  been 
used  with  some  success  :  but  the  cases  are  too  few 
to   be   of  much   importance.^ 

The  bacillus  anthracis  was  first  seen  more  than  fifty 
years  ago:  '*  Anthrax  has  the  distinction  of  being  the 
first  infectious  disease  the  bacterial  nature  of  which 
was  definitely  proven."^  Pollender  in  1844,  Roger 
and  Davaine  in  1850,  noted  th.^  pet  its  bdtonneis  in  the 
blood  of  sheep  dead  of  the  disease,  and  thought  they 
were  some  sort  of  microscopic  blood-crystals  :  it  was 
not  till  1863,  after  Pasteur's  study  of  lactic-acid  fer- 
mentation, that  Davaine  realised  they  were  living 
organisms.  Afterward,  Koch  succeeded  in  making 
cultures  of  them,  and  reproduced  the  disease  b}^  in- 
oculating animals  with  these  cultures ;  yet  it  was 
said,  so  late  as  1876,  that  the  bacillus  anthracis 
was  not  the  cause  of  anthrax,  but  only  the  sign  of 
it  :  "  Along  with  the  bacilli,  there  are  blood-cells  and 
blood-plasma,  and  these  contain  the  true  amorphous 
virus  of  anthrax."  Then  came  Pasteur's  work,  and 
reached  its  end  in  the  experiments  at  Chartres,  and 
the  famous  test-inoculations  (1881)  at  Pouilly-le- 
Fort. 

^  Dr.  Legge,  in  his  Mih'oy  Lectures,  1905,  on  Industrial  Anthrax 
{La?icet,  March  and  April  1905),  gives  a  full  account  of  Sobern- 
heim's  work  up  to  March  1904,  and  a  table  of  seventy-six  cases, 
treated  with  Sclavo's  serum. 

^  See  Dr.  Flexner's  account  of  the  disease,  in  volume  xix.  of 
Stedman's  Twentieth  Century  Practice. 


ANTHRAX  89 

In  the  Agenda  du  Chimiste  (1896)  M.  Roux  gives 
the  following  account  of  this  work,  which  he  watched 
from  first  to  last : — 


"  Vaccination  against  cJiarbon  has  now  been  put  to 
the  test  of  practice  for  fourteen  years.  Wherever  it 
is  adopted,  tiiere  the  losses  from  cliarbon  have  become 
insignificant.  It  was  followed  by  vaccination  against 
swine-measles,  roiiget  des  pores,  the  special  study  of 
our  poor  friend  Tliuillier.  But  the  immediate  result 
of  Pasteur's  vaccinations  is  their  least  merit  :  they 
have  given  men  absolute  faith  in  a  science  that  could 
show  such  good  works,  they  have  started  a  movement 
that  is  irresistible;  above  all,  they  have  set  going  the 
whole  study  of  immunity,  which  is  bringing  us  at  last 
to  a  right  way  of  treating  infective  diseases. 

"  Virulence  is  a  quality  that  microbes  can  lose,  or  can 
acquire.  Suppose  we  came  across  the  anthrax-bacillus 
so  far  attenuated,  in  the  way  of  Nature,  that  it  had 
lost  all  power  to  kill — of  course  we  should  fail  to  recog- 
nise it ;  we  should  take  it  for  an  ordinary  bacillus  of 
putrefaction  :  you  must  watch  it  through  each  phase  of 
its  attenuation,  to  know  that  the  harmless  organism  is 
the  descendant  of  the  fatal  virus.  But  you  can  give 
back  to  it  the  virulence  that  it  has  lost,  if  you  put  it,  to 
begin  with,  under  the  skin  of  a  very  delicate  subject,  a 
mouse  only  one  day  old.  With  the  blood  of  this  mouse 
inoculate  another,  a  little  older,  and  it  will  die.  Passing 
by  this  method  from  younger  to  older  mice,  we  come  to 
kill  adult  mice,  guinea-pigs,  then  rabbits,  then  sheep,  etc. 
Thus,  by  transmission,  the  virus  gains  strength  as  it  goes. 
Doubtless  this  increase  of  virulence,  that  we  bring  about 
by  experiment,  occurs  also  in  Nature ;  and  it  is  easy  to 
see  how  a  microbe,  usually  harmless  to  this  or  that 
species  of  animals,  might  become  deadly  to  it.  Is  not 
this  the  way  that  infective  diseases  have  appeared  on  the 
earth  from  age  to  age  ? 

"  See  how  far  ive  have  come,  from  the  old  metaphysical 


90  EXPERIMENTS   ON    ANIMALS 

ideas  about  virulence^  to  these  microbes  that  we  can  tur^i 
this  way  or  that  way — stuff  so  plastic  that  a  niati  can 
work  ofi  it,  afid  fashion  it  as  he  likes^ 


Pasteur's  note  on  the  attenuation  of  anthrax  was 
presented  to  the  Academie  des  Sciences  on  28th 
February  1S81  ;  and  the  test-inoculations  at  Pouilly- 
le-Fort  were  made  in  May  of  that  year.  It  was  hardly 
to  be  expected  that  every  country,  in  every  year,  should 
obtain  such  results  as  France  now  takes  as  a  matter  of 
course  ;  and  at  one  time,  about  twenty-one  years  ago, 
there  was  in  Hungar^^  a  ''  conscientious  objection  "  to 
the  inoculation  of  herds  against  the  disease.  But  in 
Italy,  from  ist  May  1897  to  30th  April  1898,  the 
issue  of  anti-charbon  vaccine  from  one  institute  alone, 
the  Sero-Therapeutic  Institute  at  Milan,  was  165,000 
tubes,  enough  to  inoculate  33,734  cattle  and  98,792 
sheep.  And  in  France,  between  1882  and  1893,  more 
than  three  million  sheep,  and  nearly  half  a  million 
cattle,  were  inoculated. 

The  work  done  in  France  was  published  b}'  M. 
Chamberland,  in  the  Annates  dc  Ulustitut  Pasteur^ 
March  1894.  The  following  translation  of  his  memoir 
— Re'sultats  pratiques  des  Vaccinations  contrc  le  Charbon 
et  le  Rouget  en  France — shows  something  of  the 
national  influence  of  the   Pasteur   Institute  : — 


I .    Charbon 

*' After  the  famous  experiments  at  Pouilly-le-Fort, 
MM.  Pasteur  and  Roux  entrusted  to  me  the  whole 
method  and  practice  of  the  vaccinations  against  charbon. 
Twelve  years  have   passed,  and  it  is  now  time  to  put 


ANTHRAX 


91 


together   the   results,  and    to   make   a   final  estimate  of 
the  value  of  these  preventive  inoculations. 

"  Every    year    we    ask    the    veterinary    surgeons    to 
report — 

1.  The  number  of  animals  they  have  vaccinated. 

2.  The   number   that   have   died   after   the  first  vac- 
cination, 

3.  The  number  that  have  died  after  the  second  vac- 
cination, within  the  twelve  days  following  it. 

4.  The    number    that   have   died    during   the   rest  of 
the  year. 

5.  The  average  annual  mortality  before  the  practice 
of  vaccination. 

**  The   sum    total   of  all  the  reports   is  given   in   the 
following  tables  : — 


Vaccination  against  Charbon  (France). 
Sheep. 


u 

.i  S" 

Mortality. 

1  u 

S  0 

2 
> 

Hi 

°   -J: 

IS- 
1^ 

Animals  Vacc 
naled  aixordi 
to  Reports 
received. 

After  First 
Vaccination. 

After  Second 
Vaccination. 

During  the 

rest  of  the 

Year. 

! 

0 
H 

0. 

is 
^*  *^ 

rt 
0 
H 

5  3 
0.5 

2> 

1882 

270,040 

112 

243,199 

756 

847 

1,037 

2,640 

1.08 

10% 

1883 

268.505 

103 

193,119 

436 

272 

784 

1,492 

0.77:   , 

18S4 

316,553 

109 

231.(^93 

770 

444 

1,033 

2,247 

0.97;   , 

i88s 

342,040 

144 

280,107 

,   884 

735 

990 

2,609 

0.93    , 

1886 

313,288 

88 

202,064 

;  652 

303 

514 

1,469 

0.72  1   , 

1887 

293o72 

107 

187,811 

718 

737 

968 

2,423 

1.29  :   , 

1888 

269,574 

50 

101,834 

,  149 

181 

300 

630 

0.62  j   , 

1889 

239.974 

43 

88.483 

238 

285 

501 

1,024 

1.161   , 

1890 

223,611 

69 

69,865 

331 

261 

244 

836 

1.20  1   , 

1891 

218,629 

6.S 

53.640 

181 

102 

77 

360 

0.67!   , 

1892 

259,696 

70 

63.125 

319 

183 

126 

628 

0.99    , 

1893 

281,333 

30 

73,939 

j  234 

56 

224 

514 

0.69  ^   , 

Total 

3.296,815 

990 

1.788,879 

1 5,668 

4,406 

6,798 

16,872 

0.94 

IC 

>% 

92 


EXPERIMENTS   ON    ANIMALS 


Vaccination  against  Charbon  (France). 
Cattle. 


4) 

.i  bO 

0  c 

Mortality. 

^ 

i" 

t 

a! 
> 

Total  Numb 
of  Animals 
Vaccinated 

Number  of 
Reports. 

Animals  Vac 
nated  accordi 
to  Reports 
received. 

After  First 
Vaccination. 

After  Second 
Vaccination. 

During  the 

rest  of  the 

Year. 

Total. 

0. 
2.  8 

0 
H 

o.S 

5% 

1882 

35,654 

127 

22,916 

22 

12 

48 

82 

0.35 

1883 

26,453 

130 

20,501 

17 

I 

46 

64 

0.31 

1884 

33,900 

139 

22,616 

20 

13 

52 

85 

0.37 

1885 

34,000 

192 

21,073 

32 

8 

67 

107 

0.50 

1886 

39,154 

135 

22,113 

18 

1 

39 

64 

0.29 

1887 

48.484 

148 

28,083 

23 

18 

68 

109 

0.39 

1888 

34.464 

61 

10,920 

8 

4 

35 

47 

0.43 

1889 

32,251 

68 

11,610 

14 

7 

31 

52 

0.45 

1890 

33.965 

71 

11,057 

5 

4 

14 

23 

0.21 

I89I 

40,736 

68 

10,476 

5 

4 

4 

14 

0.13 

i8y2 

41,609 

71 

9,757 

8 

3 

15 

26 

0.26 

1893 

38,154 

45 

9,840 

4 

I 

13 

18 

0.18 

5%" 

Total 

438,824 

1,255 

200,962 

177 

82 

432 

691 

0.34 

'*  Comparing  the  figures  in  the  fourth  column  with 
those  in  the  second,  vi^e  see  that  a  certain  number  of 
veterinary  surgeons  neglect  to  send  their  reports  at  the 
end  of  the  year.  The  number  of  reports  that  come  to 
us  even  tends  to  get  less  each  year.  The  fact  is,  that 
many  veterinary  surgeons  who  do  vaccinations  every 
year  content  themselves  with  writing,  '  The  results  are 
always  very  good  ;  it  is  useless  to  send  you  reports 
that  are  always   the  same.' 

"  We  have  every  reason  to  believe,  as  a  matter  of 
fact,  that  those  who  send  no  reports  are  satisfied  ;  for 
if  anything  goes  wrong  with  the  herds,  they  do  not  fail 
to  let  us  know  it  at  once  by  special  letters. 

"  Anyhow,  thanks  chiefly  to  new  veterinary  surgeons 
who  do   send   reports,  we  see  that  in  the  twelve  years, 


ANTHRAX  93 

up  to  1st  January  of  this  year,  we  have  had  exact  re- 
turns as  to  1,788,879  sheep  and  200,962  cattle — about 
half  of  all  those  that  were  vaccinated. 

"  The  mortality  among  sheep  and  cattle  is  slightly 
higher  after  the  first  vaccination  than  after  the  second. 
This  fact  seems  to  us  easy  to  explain.  The  animals 
reported  dead  include  both  those  that  died  as  the  result 
of  the  vaccinations,  and  those  that,  being  already  infected 
at  the  time,  died  of  the  actual  disease.  But,  at  the 
time  of  second  vaccination,  the  animals  are  already  more 
or  less  protected :  hence  a  lower  mortality  from  the 
actual  disease,  and  a  lower  sum  total. 

"  The  whole  loss  of  sheep  is  about  i  per  cent. :  the 
average  for  the  twelve  years  is  0.94.  So  we  may  say 
that  the  whole  average  loss  of  vaccinated  sheep,  whether 
from  vaccination  or  from  the  disease  itself  is  about  i  per 
cent.  The  loss  of  vaccinated  cattle  is  still  less  :  for 
the  period  of  twelve  years,  it  is  0.34,  or  about  J  per 
cent. 

"  These  results  are  extremely  satisfactory.  It  is  to 
be  noted  especially  that  the  average  annual  death-rate 
from  cJiarl)on,  before  vaccination — the  average  given  in 
these  reports — is  estimated  at  10  per  cent,  among 
sheep,  and  5  per  cent,  among  cattle.  But  even  if  we 
put  it  at  6  per  cent,  for  sheep,  and  3J  per  cent,  for 
cattle,  and  say  that  the  worth  of  a  sheep  is  30  francs, 
and  of  an  ox  or  a  cow  150  francs — which  is  well  below 
their  real  value — even  then  it  is  obvious  that  the  ad- 
vantage of  these  vaccinations  to  French  agriculture  is 
about  five  million  francs  in  sheep,  and  two  million  in 
cattle.  And  these  figures  are  rather  too  low  than  too 
high. 


94 


EXPERIMENTS    ON    ANIMALS 


2.  Roiiget 

''Some  years  after  the  discovery  of  vaccination 
against  cJiarbon,  M.  Pasteur  discovered  the  vaccine  for 
a  disease  of  swine  known  under  the  name  of  rouget. 
From  1886,  these  vaccines  were  prepared  and  sent  out 
under  the  same  conditions  as  the  vaccines  against  char- 
bon.  The  following  table  gives  the  reports  that  have 
come  to  us  of  this  disease  :  ^ — 

Vaccination  against  Rouget  (France). 


Ln 

J.  bo 

Mortalitv 

V  c 

*• 

^    -r.  — 

u- 

u  c 

11 

.0  0 

P  "P    U 

0  X 

.'^'  tX.-a 

-0 

.. 

a 

<n   rt 

(8 
> 

'otal  Nu 
of  Anim 
Vaccinat 

^  0 

1^ 

iiinials  V 

ted  acco 

to  Repo 

receive 

0 

5  <-> 

uring  the 
;st  of  the 
Year. 

CO 
0 

.2  = 

t-i 

<g 

<> 

0 

Q  ■- 

H 

<^ 

r  For  these 

1886 

two  years 
France 
-   and  other 

49 

7,087 

91 

24 

56 

171 

2.41 

20% 

1887 

countries 
are  put 
-  together. 

49 

7,467 

57 

10 

2Z 

90 

1. 21 

>> 

1888 

15,958 

31 

6,968 

31 

25 

38 

94 

1-35 

1889 

19,338 

41 

11,257 

92 

12 

40 

144 

1.28 

1890 

17,658 

41 

14,992 

118 

64 

72 

254 

1.70 

I89I 

20,583 

47 

17,556 

102 

34 

70 

206 

1. 17 

1892 

37,900 

38 

10,128 

43 

19 

46 

108 

1.07 

Total 

111,437 

296 

75,455 

534 

188 

345 

1,067 

1-45 

20% 

"  The  total  average  of  losses  during  the  past  seven  years 
is  1.45  per  cent..,  or  about  \\  per  cent, 

"  This  average  is  appreciably  higher  than  the  average 
for  charbon.      But   it   must  be  noted  that  the   mortality 


^  "The  reports  for  1893  are  at  present  too  few  to  be  utilised  for 
this  table." 


ANTHRAX  95 

from  rougct  among  swine,  before  vaccination,  was  much 
higher  than  that  from  charhon  among  sheep.  It  was 
about  20  per  cent.  ;  a  certain  number  of  reports  speak 
of  losses  of  60  and  even  80  per  cent. :  so  that  almost 
all  the  veterinary  surgeons  are  loud  in  their  praises  of 
the  new  vaccination." 

The  rest  of  M.  Chamberland's  paper  is  concerned 
with  the  defects,  such  as  they  are,  of  the  vaccinations, 
and  the  need  of  absolute  cleanliness  in  the  making  of 
them  :  which  is  somewhat  difficult  for  this  vast  number 
of  vaccinations  of  animals  all  over  France,  and  in  other 
parts  of  the  world.  The  whole  story  of  the  discovery 
is  told  in  M.  Vallery-Radot's  Life  of  Pasteur:  and  the 
whole  story  of  rougct,  in  the  same  most  fascinating  book, 
vol.  ii.,  p.   I  80. 


Ill 

TUBERCLE 

Before  Laennec,  tubercle  had  been  taken  for  a 
degenerative  change  of  the  tissues,  much  Hke  other 
forms  of  degeneration.  It  was  Laennec  who  brought 
men  to  see  that  it  is  a  disease  of  itself,  different  from 
anything  else  ;  and  this  great  discovery  of  the  specific 
nature  of  tubercle,  and  his  invention  of  the  stethoscope, 
place  him  almost  level  with  Harve}'.  He  founded  the 
facts  of  tubercle,  and  on  that  foundation  Villemin  built. 
In  1865,  Villemin  communicated  to  the  Academie  des 
Sciences  his  discovery  that  tubercle  is  an  infective 
disease ;  that  he  had  produced  it  in  rabbits,  by  inocu- 
lating them  with  tuberculous  matter.  En  void  les 
preuves,  he  said.  He  appealed  to  these  inoculations  to 
prove  his  teaching  : — 

La  tuberculose  est  tine  afiection  specifiqne. 
Sa  cause  reside  dans  un  agent  inocnlable. 
L! inocidation  se  fait  tres-bien  de  Vhomme  an  lapin. 
La  tuberculose  appartient  done  a  la  classe  des  maladies 
virulentes. 

It  was  no  new  thing  to  say,  or  to  guess,  that  phthisis 
was  or  might  be  infective.  So  far  back  as  1 500, 
Frascatorius  had  said  that  phthisis  came  "  by  the  glid- 
ing of  the  corrupt  and  noisome  humours  of  the  patient 

into  the  lungs  of  a  healthy  man."      Surely,   if  clinical 

.  96 


TUBERCLE  97 

experience  could  suffice,  men  would  have  made  some- 
thing out  of  this  wisdom  of  Frascatorius.  They  made 
nothing  of  it  ;  they  waited  three  hundred  years  for 
Villemin  to  inoculate  the  rabbits,  and  then  the  thing  was 
done — E}i  void  Irs  prruvcs.  Three  years  later,  Chauveau 
produced  the  disease  in  animals,  not  by  inoculation,  but 
by  the  admixture  of  tuberculous  matter  with  their  food. 
Then,  as  the  work  grew,  there  came  a  short  period  of 
uncertainty  :  different  species  of  animals  are  so  widely 
dift'erent  in  their  susceptibility  to  the  disease  that  the 
results  of  further  inoculations  seemed  to  go  against 
Villemin  ;  and  it  was  not  till  1880  that  Cohnheim  finally 
established  Villemin's  teaching,  and  even  went  beyond  it, 
making  inoculation  the  very  proof  of  tubercle  : — 

"  Everything  is  tuberculous,  that  can  produce  tubercu- 
lous disease  by  inoculation  in  animals  that  are  susceptible 
to  that  disease :  and  nothing  is  tuberculous,  that  cannot 
do  this." 

Then,  in  1881,  came  the  welcome  news  that  Koch 
had  discovered  the  bacillus  of  tubercle.  In  his  first 
pubHshed  account  of  it  (24th  March  1882)  he  says  : — 

"  Henceforth,  in  our  warfare  against  this  fearful  scourge 
of  our  race,  we  have  to  reckon  not  with  a  nameless 
something,  but  with  a  definite  parasite,  whose  conditions 
of  life  are  for  the  most  part  already  known,  and  can  be 
further  studied.  .  .  .  Before  all  things,  we  must  shut  off 
the  sources  of  the  infection,  so  far  as  it  is  in  the  power  of 
man  to  do  this."  ^ 

^  "  In  Zukunft  wird  man  es  im  Kampf  gegen  diese  schreckliche 
Plage  des  Menschensifeschlechtes  nicht  mehr  mil  einem  unbe- 
stimmten  Etwas,  sondern  mit  einem  fassbaren  Parasiten  zu  thun 
haben,  dessen  Lebensbedingungen  zum  grossten  Theil  bekannt 
sind  und  noch  welter  edorscht  werden.  Es  miissen  vor  alien 
Dingen  die  Quellen,  ans  dencn  der  Infections-stoff  fliesst,  so  weit 
es  in  menschlichen  Macht  liegt,  verschlossen  werden." 

G 


98  EXPERIMENTS   ON   ANIMALS 

In  November  1890  he  announced,  in  the  Deutsche 
Medizinischc  IVocJieiiscJirift,  the  discovery  of  tuberculin. 
Its  failure  was  one  of  the  world's  tragedies.  The 
defeat  may  not  be  final,  and  we  may  live  to  see  phthisis 
fought  and  beaten  with  its  own  weapons  :  but,  for  the 
present,  it  is  more  to  the  purpose  to  consider  what 
other  benefits  have  been  gained,  from  the  discovery  of 
the  tubercle-bacillus  in  188  i,  in  every  civihsed  country 
in  the  world. 

1.  It  has  given  to  everybody  a  more  reasonable  and 
hopeful  view  of  phthisis  and  the  diseases  allied  to  it. 
The  older  doctrine  of  heredit}^,  that  the  child  inherits 
the  disease  itself,  has  given  way  to  the  doctrine  that 
the  inheritance,  in  the  vast  majority  of  cases,  is  not 
that  of  the  disease  itself,  but  that  of  a  tendency  or 
increased  susceptibility'-  to  the  disease. 

2.  It  has  brought  about  an  immense  improvement  in 
the  early  and  accurate  diagnosis  of  all  cases.  The 
bacillus  found  in  the  sputa,  or  in  the  discharges,  or  in  a 
particle  of  tissue,  is  evidence  that  the  case  is  tuber- 
culous. 

3.  It  has  given  evidence,  which  till  1901  was  hardly 
called  in  question,^  that  tabes  jucsentcrica,  a  tuberculous 
disease  which  kills  thousands  of  children  every  year,  is 
due  in  many  cases  to  infection  from  the  milk  of  tuber- 
culous cows.  In  England  alone,  in  1895,  the  number 
of  children  who  died  of  this  disease  was  7389,  of 
whom  3855  were  under  one  year  old. 

4.  It  has  proved,  and  has  taught  everybody  to  see 

^  At  the  British  Congress  on  Tuberculosis,  London,  1901,  Koch 
stated  that  bovine  tuberculosis  and  human  tuberculosis  are  not  one 
and  the  same  disease,  and  that  the  risk  of  milk-infection  is  so 
small  that  burdensome  restrictions  ought  not  to  be  enforced.  In 
the  general  judgment  of  men  well  qualified  to  study  the  subject, 
he  failed  to  prove  his  point. 


TUBERCLE  99 

the  proof,  that  the  sputa  of  phthisical  patients  are  the 
chief  cause  of  the  dissemination  of  the  disease.  By 
insisting  on  this  fact,  it  has  profoundly  influenced  the 
nursing  and  the  home-care  of  phthisical  patients  ;  and 
it  has  begun  to  influence  public  opinion  in  favour  of 
some  sort  of  notification  of  the  disease,  and  in  favour 
of  enforcing  a  law  against  spitting  in  public  places  and 
conveyances.  In  some  of  the  principal  cities  of  the 
United  States,  laws  on  this  subject  have  already  been 
enacted. 

5.  It  has  greatly  helped  to  bring  about  the  present 
rigorous  control  of  the  meat  and  milk  trades.  The 
following  paragraph,  taken  almost  at  random,  will 
suffice  here  : — 

"  Bacteriological  examinations  during  the  past  year 
have  shown  that  more  milks  are  tuberculosis-infected 
tlian  is  generally  supposed,  and  the  importance  of 
carefully  supervising  milk  supplies  is  becoming  more  and 
more  acknowledged.  Veterinary  surgeons  are  practically 
agreed  that  tuberculin  is  a  reliable  and  safe  test  for 
diagnosing  the  presence  of  tuberculosis  in  animals,  but 
affords  no  index  of  the  extent  or  degree  of  the  disease. 
The  test,  however,  will  not  produce  tuberculosis  in 
healthy  animals,  and  has  no  deleterious  effect  upon  the 
general  health  of  the  animals.  The  London  County 
Council  have  decided  that  all  cows  in  London  cowsheds 
shall  be  inspected  by  a  veterinary  surgeon  regularly  once 
in  every  three  months,  and  that  a  systematic  bacterio- 
logical examination  shall  be  conducted  of  milks  collected 
from  purveyors."     {^Medical  Annual,  1 901.) 

6.  Tuberculin  has  come  into  general  use  for  the 
detection  of  tuberculosis  in  cattle,  to  "  shut  off  the 
sources  of  the  infection."  A  full  account  of  this  method 
in  different  countries  was  given  by  Professor  Bang,  of 
Copenhagen,  at  the  Fourth  Congress  on   Tuberculosis, 


100  EXPERIMENTS   ON    ANIMALS 

Paris,  1898.  The  injection  of  tuberculin  is  followed  in 
eight  to  twelve  hours  by  a  well-marked  rise  of  tempe- 
rature, if  the  animal  be  tuberculous.  Of  this  test, 
Professor  McFadyean,  Principal  of  the  Royal  Veterinary 
College,  London,  says  : — 

"  I  have  no  hesitation  in  saying  that,  taking  full  account 
of  its  imperfection,  tuberculin  is  the  most  valuable  means 
of  diagnosis  in  tuberculosis  that  we  possess.  ...  I  have 
most  implicit  faith  in  it,  when  it  is  used  on  animals  stand- 
ing in  their  own  premises  and  undisturbed.  It  is  not 
reliable  when  used  on  animals  in  a  market  or  slaughter- 
house. A  considerable  numiber  of  errors  at  first  were 
found  when  I  examined  animals  in  slaughter-houses  after 
they  had  been  conveyed  there  by  rail,  etc.  Since  that, 
using  it  on  animals  in  their  own  premises,  I  have 
found  that  it  is  practically  infallible.  I  have  notes 
of  one  particular  case,  where  twenty-five  animals  in 
one  dairy  were  tested,  and  afterwards  all  were  killed. 
There  was  only  one  animal  which  did  not  react,  and  it 
was  the  only  animal  not  found  to  be  tuberculous  when 
killed." 


Two  instances  of  the  validity  of  this  test  will  suffice. 
In  1899,  it  was  applied  to  270  cows  on  some  farms  in 
Lancashire.  Of  these  cows,  180  reacted  to  the  test, 
8  5  did  not  react,  and  5  were  doubtful.  Tuberculous 
disease  was  actually  found,  when  they  were  killed,  in 
175  out  of  the  180  =  97.2  per  cent.  {Lancet^  5th 
August  1899.)  In  1 90 1,  Arloing  and  Courmont 
published  a  critical  account  of  the  whole  subject,  and 
gave  the  following  facts.  In  80  calves,  which  on 
examination  after  death  were  found  not  tuberculous, 
the  test  was  negative  :  in  70  older  cattle,  which  were 
tuberculous,  the  test  was  positive  in  every  case  but  one, 


TUBERCLE  loi 

though  the  dilution  of  the  serum  was  i  in  lo.^  It 
would  be  easy  to  add  instances  of  the  value  of  this 
test,  for  it  is  practised  far  and  wide  over  the  world. 

7.  More  recently,  the  discovery  of  the  "  opsonic 
index/'  and  its  use  by  Sir  Almroth  Wright  and  others, 
has  given  a  great  advance  to  the  observation  and 
treatment  of  cases  of  tuberculosis.  The  administration 
of  the  "  new  tuberculin  "  is  now  timed  and  measured 
with  an  accuracy  whicji  was  absolutely  impossible  a 
few  years  ago. 

It  is  a  far  cry,  from  the  present  method  of  counting 
how  many  tubercle-bacilli  are  taken  up  by  a  single 
blood-cell,  back  to  Yillemin's  rabbits.  Every  inch  of 
the  way,  from  i  8  8  I  onward,  the  pathological  study  of 
every  form  of  tuberculosis,  medical  or  surgical,  human 
or  bovine,  has  been  dependent  on  bacteriology  ;  that  is 
to  say,  on  experiments  on  animals. 

^  For  references  to  this  paper,  and  to  evidence  put  forward 
against  the  validity  of  the  test,  and  for  criticism  of  such 
evidence,  see  Gould's  Year- Book  of  Medicitie  and  Surgery^  1902 
(Philadelphia,  W.   B.  Saunders  »Sl  Company). 


IV 


DIPHTHERIA 


The  bacillus  of  diphtheria,  the  Klebs-Loeffler  bacillus, 
was  first  described  by  Klebs  in  1875,  and  was  first 
obtained  in  pure  culture  by  Loefiler  in  1884.  Its 
isolation  was  a  matter  of  great  difficulty,  and  the  work 
of  many  years,  because  of  its  association  in  the  mouth 
with  other  species  of  bacteria.  The  foUowing  table, 
from  Hewlett's  Manual  of  Bacteriology^  is  a  good  instance 
of  one  of  many  practical  difficulties.  Out  of  353  cases 
of  diphtheria,  bacteriological  examination  found  the 
diphtheria-bacillus  alone  in  216  cases.  In  the  remaining 
137  it  was  associated  with  the  following  organisms: — 


Streptococci 

6 

Staphylococci         .             .             .             . 

55 

Bacilli         .... 

19 

ToiuliK        .... 

9 

Sarcinae      .             .             .             . 

6 

Streptococci  and  micrococci 

2 

Micrococci  and  bacilli 

9 

Streptococci  and  bacilli     . 

I 

Torula^  and  bacilli 

I 

Micrococci  and  sarcinse    . 

6 

Micrococci  and  torulse 

4 

Many  forms  present  together 

19 

137 

In  December  1890  came  the  news  that  Behring  and 
Kitasato  had  at  last  cleared  the  way  for  the  use  of  an 
antitoxin  : — 


DIPHTHERIA  103 

"  Our  researches  on  diphtheria  and  on  tetanus  have  led 
us  to  the  question  of  immunity  and  cure  of  these  two 
diseases;  and  we  succeeded  in  curing  infected  animals, 
and  in  immunising  healthy  animals,  so  that  they  have 
become  incapable  of  contracting  diphtlieria  or  tetanus." 

Aronsen,  Sidney  Martin,  Escherich,  Kleniensiewicz, 
and  many  more,  were  working  on  the  same  lines  ;  and 
in  1893,  Behring  and  Kossel  and  Heubner  published 
the  first  cases  treated  with  antitoxin.  Then,  in  1894, 
came  the  Congress  of  Hygiene  and  Demography  at 
Budapest,  and  Roux's  triumphant  account  of  the  good 
results  already  obtained.  Thus  the  treatment  is  not 
many  3'ears  old  ;  but,  if  the  whole  world  could  tabulate 
its  results,  the  total  number  of  lives  saved  would 
already  be  somewhere  above  a  quarter  of  a  million. 
Men  found  it  hard  at  first  to  believe  the  full  wonder  of 
the  discovery:  the  medical  journals  of  1895  and  1896 
still  contain  the  fossils  of  criticism  —  all  the  may  be 
and  must  be  of  the  earlier  debates  on  the  new^  treatment. 
The  finest  of  all  these  fossils  is  embedded  in  the 
Saturday  Review  of  2nd  Feb.  i  895 — It  is  a  pity  that  the 
English  Press  should  cojitinue  to  be  made  the  cats-paw  of 
a  gang  of  foreign  medical  adventurers.  To  get  at  the 
truth,  we  must  reckon  in  thousands  :  take,  out  of  a 
whole  mass  of  evidence,  all  just  alike,  the  reports  from 
London,  Berlin,  Munich,  V^ienna,  Strasbourg,  Cairo, 
Boston,  and  New  York  ;  these  to  begin  with.  Or  the 
following  facts,  cut  almost  at  random  out  of  the  medical 
journals  : — 

**  The  medical  report  of  the  French  army  states  that 
since  the  introduction  of  the  serum-treatment  of  diph- 
theria, the  mortality  among  cases  of  that  disease  had 
fallen  from  1 1  per  cent,  to  6  per  cent."  {Brit.  Med. 
Journ.,  3rd  September  1898.) 


104  EXPERIMENTS   ON    ANIMALS 

"  Professor  Kronlein  (Zurich)  exhibited  statistical 
tables,  showing  that  the  prevalence  of  diphtheria  in 
the  canton  of  Zurich  had  been  nearly  uniform  during 
the  past  fifteen  years ;  and  that  the  mortality  rapidly 
decreased  as  soon  as  antitoxic  serum  was  used  on  a 
somewhat  larger  scale.  In  his  clinic,  all  the  patients 
were  examined  bacteriologically,  and  serum  was  ad- 
ministered in  every  case  of  diphtheria  without  exception. 
Of  1336  cases  treated  before  the  serum-period,  554  =  39-4 
per  cent,  died ;  whilst  during  the  serum-period  there 
were  55  deaths  among  437  cases  =12  per  cent.  In 
cases  of  tracheotomy,  the  death-rates  before  and  during 
the  serum-period  were  66  and  38.8  per  cent,  respectively." 
(Laficet,  7th  May  1898,  Report  of  German  Surgical 
Congress  at  Berlin.) 

"  Dr.  Kdrmdn  was  entrusted  by  the  Hungarian 
Government  with  the  task  of  instituting  measures  for 
preventing  the  spread  of  diphtheria  in  a  village  and 
its  neighbourhood.  As  general  hygienic  regulations 
accomplished  nothing,  he  tried  preventive  inoculation. 
.  .  .  Among  114  children  thus  treated,  there  was  during 
the  next  two  months  no  case  of  diphtheria,  although 
the  disease  was  prevalent  in  the  village  up  to  the  date 
at  which  inoculation  commenced,  and  continued  to  rage 
in  the  surrounding  villages  afterwards.  During  those 
two  months,  only  one  case  of  diphtheria  appeared  in  the 
village,  and  that  was  in  an  uninoculated  child ;  while,  in 
the  previous  five  months,  18.3  per  cent,  of  the  village 
children  had  been  attacked,  of  whom  eight  died,  six 
not  having  been  treated  with  serum.  Considering  the 
wretched  h3^gienic  condition  of  the  village,  the  harm- 
lessness  of  preventive  inoculations,  and  the  continuance 
of  the  disease  in  the  neighbouring  villages,  where 
diphtheria-vaccination  was  not  carried  out,  the  extra- 
ordinary value  of  the  inoculations,  in  the  prophylaxis 
of  diphtheria,  can  hardly  be  denied."  {Brit.  Med. 
Journ.,   i6th  January   1897.) 

"The  most  striking  confirmation  of  the  value  of  anti- 
toxin has  been  aff"orded  where  the  supply  ran  short  during 


DIPHTHERIA  105 

an  e[)ideiiiic.  In  Haginsky's  clinic,  the  interruption  of  the 
seruni-treatnicnt  promptly  raised  the  mortality  from  15.G 
to  48.4  per  cent."     [Brit.    Med.  Journ.^    20th    October 

1895.) 

'*  in  an  analysis  of  the  ratio  of  mortality  in  266  German 
cities  of  about  15,000  inhabitants,  it  was  found  that  the 
ratio  of  mortality  per  100,000  of  the  living,  before  anti- 
toxin was  used,  varied  IVom  130  to  84  from  1886  to  1893, 
while  the  ratio  from  1894  to  1897  varied  from  loi  to  35. 
It  is  a  significant  fact  that  during  1894,  when,  although 
antitoxin  was  used  to  a  certain  extent,  it  was  not  in 
general  use,  the  ratio  was  lOi  ;  that  when  antitoxin  was 
used  more  extensively,  in  1895,  the  ratio  was  53  ;  that 
in  1896  it  was  43;  that  in  1897,  when  antitoxin  was 
very  generally  used,  the  rate  fell  to  35."  [Trans.  Massa- 
ch  usetts  Med,  Soc,  1898.) 

"  Dr.  Gabritchefski  points  out  that  in  recent  years  the 
number  of  persons  (in  Russia)  attacked  by  the  disease  has 
increased,  the  figures  for  the  whole  of  Russia  rising  from 
about  100,000  or  120,000,  ten  years  ago,  to  considerably 
over  200,000  in  1897.  The  introduction  of  the  serum 
treatment  has,  however,  had  a  marked  effect  on  the  mor- 
tality of  the  disease ;  and  the  actual  number  of  deaths 
from  diphtheria  has  either  not  increased  at  all,  or  has 
slightly  diminished."     [Lancet,  5th  Aug.  1899.) 

Of  course  there  will  still  be  bad  diphtheria  years  and 
good  diphtheria  years  :  for  example,  the  death-rate  of 
the  population  of  England,  from  diphtheria,  was  higher 
during  the  years  1 893-1 899  than  during  the  years 
1889— 1892.  Antitoxin  can  no  more  prevent  a  bad 
diphtheria  year  than  an  umbrella  can  prevent  a  wet  day. 
But  in  limited  outbreaks  of  diphtheria,  such  as  occur  in 
a  village,  an  asylum,  a  school,  or  a  large  family  of  young 
children,  it  can  be  used,  and  is  used,  as  a  prophylactic, 
and  with  admirable  results.  The  example  of  Dr.  K^r- 
man,  just  quoted,  is  one  of  the  earliest  instances  of  this 


io6  EXPERIMENTS   ON    ANIiMALS 

preventive  use  of  antitoxin  :  other  instances,  of  equal 
importance,  are  given  in  the  Boston  Medical  and  Surgical 
Journal,  December  1897  ^^^^  March  1898  ;  and  in  the 
Lancet,  2nd  April  1898,  and  28th  January  1899.  A 
summary  of  later  experiences  of  this  preventive  use  of 
antitoxin  in  different  countries  is  given  b}^  Dr.  Wilcox 
of  New  York,  and  Dr.  Stevens  of  Philadelphia,  in  Gould's 
Year-Book  for  1902  : — 

''  At  a  meeting  of  the  Societe  de  Pediatric  (Paris), 
held  June  1901,  a  resolution  was  adopted  affirming  that 
preventive  inoculations  present  no  serious  dangers,  and 
confer  immunit}^  in  the  great  majority  of  cases  for  some 
weeks,  and  recommending  their  emplo3^ment  in  children's 
institutions  and  in  families  in  which  scientific  surveillance 
cannot  be  exercised.  Netter  stated  that  he  had  collected 
32,484  observations  (cases)  of  prophylactic  injections,  and 
after  eliminating  cases  in  which  the  disease  developed  in 
less  than  twenty-four  hours  after  injection,  or  more  than 
thirty  days  after,  there  were  6  per  cent,  of  failures.  On 
the  other  hand,  the  author  stated  that  he  had  recently 
made  ninet}-  preventive  injections  with  but  2.17  per  cent, 
of  failures.  Potter  reports  a  series  of  twenty-four  families 
in  which  preventive  injections  were  used.  Only  one  case 
of  diphtheria  occurred.  In  another  series  of  cases,  in 
which  no  prophylactic  injections  were  given,  the  disease 
occurred  secondarily'  in  one-third  of  the  houses,  and  one- 
sixth  of  the  inmates  contracted  the  disease,  in  spite  of  the 
fact  that  a  large  number  of  the  primary'  cases  w^ere  re- 
moved to  the  hospital.  Blake  reports  a  series  of  thirty- 
five  prophylactic  injections.  The  treatment  was  instituted 
after  three  cases  of  diphtheria  had  developed  in  a  chil- 
dren's home.  No  secondary  cases  developed.  Voisin  and 
Guinon  describe  an  epidemic  of  diphtheria  in  the  Salpe- 
triere  Hospital  among  idiots  and  epileptics.  Prophylactic 
injections  were  given  to  all  those  exposed  to  the  contagion. 
After  that,  but  four  cases  appeared,  all  mild  in  character. 
One  severe  case   developed,   however,   two   weeks  later, 


DIPHTHERIA  107 

ending  fatally  in  twenty-four  hours,  showing  that  the 
prophylactic  action  of  the  antitoxin,  while  efficacious,  is 
not  of  very  long  duration." 

It  would  be  easy  to  prolong  ad  infinitum  the  proofs  of 
the  curative  and  preventive  efficacy  of  the  antitoxin  :  it 
would  be  impossible  to  find  any  evidence  to  be  weighed 
for  one  moment  against  these  proofs.  There  are  three 
early  records  that  ought  to  be  quoted  more  fully  :  the 
1894  report  from  the  Hospital  for  Sick  Children,  Paris  ; 
the  1896  report  of  the  American  Paediatric  Society; 
and  the  1898  report  of  the  Clinical  Society  of  London. 

I 

The  report  from  the  Hospital  for  Sick  Children, 
Paris,  is  contained  in  a  memoir,  Seriim-Therapie  de  la 
Diphterie,  the  joint  work  of  MM.  Roux,  Martin,  and 
Chaillon  (Annales  de  l' Insiitut  Pasteur,  September  1894). 
It  gives  the  results  of  the  serum-treatment  during  Feb- 
ruary to  July  1894.  The  cases  were  not  selected  :  the 
antitoxin  was  given  in  every  case  that  was  proved,  by 
bacteriological  examination,  to  be  diphtheria — with  the 
exception  of  20  cases  where  the  children  were  just 
dying  when  they  were  brought  to  the  hospital.  No 
change  was  made  either  in  the  general  treatment  or  in 
the  local  applications  to  the  throat  ;  these  were  the  same 
that  had  been  used  in  former  years  :  le  serum  est  le  seul 
element  nouveau  introduit. 

In  1890— 1893,  before  the  serum-treatment,  3971 
children  were  admitted  to  the  diphtheria  wards,  and  2029 
of  them  died.      The  percentage  of  these  deaths  was — 

In  1S90    ....    55.88  ^ 

;;  I892  :  :  :  :  %%  U^-^^^g^^^  51.71. 
„  1893  ...  .  48.47  ^ 


io8  EXPERIMENTS   ON    ANIMALS 

The  serum  was  used  from  ist  February  to  24th  July 
1894.  During  this  period  448  children  were  admitted, 
of  whom  109  died  =  24.5. 

During  the  same  period  (February  to  June)  the 
Trousseau  Hospital,  where  the  serum  was  not  used, 
had  520  cases,  with  316  deaths  =  60.0. 

The  cases  at  the  Hospital  for  Sick  Children  must  be 
divided  into  those  that  required  tracheotomy  and  those 
that  did  not  require  it : — 


Mortality  among  Cases  not  requiring  Tracheotomy. 

-Average  =  33.94. 


In  1890     .     .     .     .     47.30  ] 
„    1891     ....     46.64  I 


1892     ....     38.8     j 
,.    1893     ....     32.02  ) 

During  the  serum-period,  the  mortahty  of  these  cases 
was  12.0.  At  the  Trousseau  Hospital,  without  the 
serum,  the  mortality  of  these  cases  during  the  same 
period  was  32.0. 


Mortality  among  Cases  requiring  Tracheotomy. 

1 

1893     ....     7345 


In  1890     ....     76.35 

„      189I         ....        68.36     ,    A^  ^    7       49, 

„  1892  ....  74-6   r       ^      '^^^ 


During  the  serum-period,  the  mortahty  of  these  cases 
was  49.0.  At  the  Trousseau  Hospital,  without  the 
serum,  the  mortality  of  these  cases  during  the  same 
period  was  86.0. 

Setting  aside,  out  of  the  448  children,  those  cases 
of  "  membranous  sore  throat "  or  "pseudo-diphtheria," 
in  which  the  Klebs-Loeffler  bacillus  was  not  found,  there 
remain  320  cases  where  it  was  found.  Of  these  320 
children,  20  were  just  dying  on  admission,  and   did   not 


DIPHTHERIA  109 

receive  the  serum.  Of  the  300  who  received  it,  78 
died  =26.0.  Before  the  serum-period,  the  mortality  of 
these  cases  at  the  same  hospital  was  about  50.0.  The 
complications  of  diphtheria,  such  as  paralysis,  were 
much  less  frequent  during  the  serum-period  than  they 
had  been  before  it. 

II 

Report  of  the  American  Paediatric  Society's  Collec- 
tive Investigation  into  the  use  of  Antitoxin  in  the  treat- 
ment of  diphtheria  in  private  practice.  (Eighth  Annual 
Meeting,  Montreal,  May  1896.)  From  the  l^^cw  York 
Medical  Record^  4th  July  1896. 

This  vast  collection  of  cases  is  of  special  interest, 
because  they  occurred  in  private  practice.  In  most  of 
them  the  nature  of  the  disease  was  proved  by  bacterio- 
logical examination  ;  in  the  rest,  the  clinical  evidence 
was  decisive  :  ''  It  is  possible  that  among  the  latter  we 
have  admitted  some  streptococcus  cases,  but  the  number 
of  such  is  certainly  very  small."  All  other  doubtful 
cases,   244   in   number,  were  excluded. 

Three  thousand  three  hundred  and  eighty-four  cases 
were  reported  by  613  physicians  from  114  cities  and 
towns,  in  i  5  diiferent  States,  the  District  of  Columbia, 
and  the  Dominion  of  Canada.  To  these  3384  cases 
were  added  942  cases  from  tenement-houses  in  New 
York,  and  1468  cases  from  tenement-houses  in  Chicago. 
The  New  York  and  Chicago  cases  were,  most  of  them, 
treated  by  a  corps  of  inspectors  of  the  Health  Board  of 
the  city  ;  and  the  municipal  surveillance  was  very  strict 
at  Chicago  : — 

"There  are  very  few  hospitals  in  America  that  receive 
diphtheria  patients.   .  .  .   It  was  the  custom  in  Chicago  to 


no  EXPERIMENTS   ON    ANIMALS 

send  an  inspector  to  every  tenement-house  case  reported, 
and  to  administer  the  serum  unless  it  was  refused  by  the 
parents.  These  cases  were  therefore  treated  much  earher, 
and  the  results  were  correspondingly  better  than  were 
obtained  in  New  York,  although  the  serum  used  was  the 
same  in  both  cities,  viz.,  that  of  the  New  York  Health 
Board." 

The  sum  total  of  results  was  5794  cases,  with  713 
deaths  =12.3  per  cent.,  including  every  case  returned; 
but  218  were  moribund  at  the  time  of  injection,  or 
died  within  twenty-four  hours  of  the  first  injection. 
"Should  these  be  excluded,  there  would  remain  5576 
cases  in  which  the  serum  ma}^  be  said  to  have  had  a 
chance,  with  a  mortality  of  8.8  per  cent. 

Of  996  cases  injected  on  the  first  day  of  the  disease,  49  died=  4.9  % 

,,   1616             ,,            on  the  second                ,,  120    ,,    =    7.4  ,, 

,,   1508             ,,            on  the  third                   ,,  134     ,,    =   8.8  ,, 

,,     758            ,,            on  the  fourth                 ,,  147     ,,    =20.7,, 

,,     690            ,,            on  or  after  the  fifth      ,,  244     ,,    =35-3  >> 

And  in  232  cases,  where  the  day  of  injection  was  un- 
known, there  were  19  deaths  =  8.2  per  cent. 

'*  No  one  feature  of  the  cases  of  diphtheria  treated 
by  antitoxin  has  excited  more  surprise  among  the 
physicians  who  have  reported  them  than  the  prompt 
arrest,  by  the  timely  administration  of  the  serum, 
of  membrane  which  was  rapidly  spreading  downward 
below  the  lar3^nx.  Such  expressions  abound  in  the 
reports  as  '  wonderful,'  '  marvellous,'  *  in  all  my  experi- 
ence with  diphtheria,  have  never  seen  anything  like 
it   before,'  etc. 

"  Turning  now  to  the  operative  cases,  we  find  the 
same  remarkable  effects  of  the  antitoxin  noticeable. 
Operations  were  done  in  565  cases,  or  in  16.7  per 
cent,   of  the   entire   number  reported.      Intubation  was 


DIPHTHERIA  m 

performed  533  times,  with  138  deaths,  or  a  mortality 
of  25.9  per  cent.  In  the  above  are  included  9  cases 
in  which  a  secondary  tracheotomy  was  done,  with 
7  deaths.  In  32,  tracheotomy  only  was  done,  with 
12  deaths,  a  mortality  of  37.4  per  cent.  Of  the  565 
operative  cases,  66  were  either  moribund  at  the  time 
of  operation  or  died  within  twenty-four  hours  after 
injection.  Should  these  be  deducted,  there  remain 
499  cases  operated  upon,  b}'-  intubation  or  tracheotomy, 
with  84  deaths,  a  mortality  of  16.9  per  cent. 

"Let  us  compare  the  results  of  intubation,  in  cases 
in  which  the  serum  was  used,  with  those  obtained  with 
this  operation  before  the  serum  was  introduced.  Of 
5  546  intubation  cases  in  the  practice  of  242  physicians, 
collected  b}'  M'Naughton  and  Maddren  (1892),  the 
mortalit}'- was  69.5  per  cent.  Since  that  time,  statistics 
have  improved  materially  b}'  the  general  use  (in  and 
about  New  York,  at  least)  of  calomel  fumigations. 
With  this  addition,  the  best  results  published  (those  of 
Brown)  showed  in  2  79  cases  a  mortality  of  5  i .  6  per  cent. 

"  But  even  these  figures  do  not  adequately  express 
the  benefit  of  antitoxin  in  laryngeal  cases.  Witness 
the  fact  that  over  one-half  the  laryngeal  cases  did  not 
require  operation  at  all.  Formerl}'-,  10  per  cent,  of  re- 
coveries was  the  record  for  lar3'ngeal  cases  not  operated 
upon.  Surely,  if  it  does  nothing  else,  the  serum  saves 
at  least  double  the  number  of  cases  of  laryngeal  diph- 
theria that  has  been  saved  by  any  other  method  of 
treatment." 

Ill 

In  1898,  the  Clinical  Society  published  the  Report 
of  their  Special  Committee,  based  on  633  cases  (Trans. 
Clin.   Soc,  xxxi.,  1898,   pp.  1  —  50).      The  whole   report 


112 


EXPERIMENTS   ON    ANIMALS 


should  be  read  carefully  ;  but  there  is  room  here  for 
nothing  more  than  the  latter  part  of  it.  This  is  given 
at  length. 

A 

Table  showijig  the  General  Mortality  of  cases  treated^  on  the  same 
day  of  the  disease^  with  and  without  A  ntitoxin. 


Antitoxin  Committee: 
633  Cases  treated  with  Antitoxin. 

Metropolitan  Asylums  Board 

1894: 

3042  Cases  treated  without 

Antitoxin. 

Difference  of  Percentage. 

Day  of  the 
Disease  on 

which 
Treatment 
was  begun. 

ir. 

a 
U 

u5 
1) 

Q 

rt  V 
■"  0 

Day  of 
Admission 

to 
Hospital. 

0 

rt 

Q 

0  ^ 

ISt 

2nd 

3rd 

4th 

5th 

and  after. 

20 
92 

133 
130 
258 

2 
10 
20 
26 

66 

lO.O 
10.8 
I5.C 
20.0 

25-5 

1st 

2nd 

3rd 

4th 

5th 

133 

539 

652 

566 
1,152 

30 
146 
192 
179 

355 

22.5 
27.0 
29.4 
31.6 
30.8 

12.5 
16.2 
14.4 

II. 6 

5.3 

Totals    . 

633 

124 

195 

Totals   . 

3,042 

902 

29.6 

10. 1 

B 

Summaiy  and  Conclusions  of  the  Committee  s  Report 

*'  The  material  for  the  investigation  of  the  clinical 
value  of  the  antitoxin  serum  in  the  treatment  of 
diphtheria  was  not  obtained  from  selected,  but  from 
consecutive,  cases,  reported  from  the  general  hospitals 
and  the  fever  hospitals  of  the  Metropolitan  Asylums 
Board  ;  all  were  made  use  of  which  fulfilled  the  require- 
ments of  the  Committee. 

"  The  Committee  rejected  all  cases  in  which  satis- 
factory proof  of  the  existence  of  true  diphtheria  was 
not   shown,  either  by  the  presence  of  the  Bacillus  diph- 


DIPHTHERIA  113 

tJiericc  upon  bacteriological  examination,  or  by  the  occur- 
rence of  paralysis  in  the  course  of  the  illness.  All 
were  also  rejected  in  which  the  amount  of  antitoxin 
administered  was  stated  in  cubic  centimetres  and  not 
in  normal  units,  the  Committee  having  no  means  by 
which  the  strength  of  the  antitoxin  could  in  these  cases 
be  determined. 

"  Six  hundred  and  thirty-three  cases  form  the  basis 
on  which  the  report  is  drawn  up ;  549  were  treated 
with  antitoxin  obtained  from  the  laboratory  of  the 
Royal  Colleges  of  Physicians  and  Surgeons ;  the  re- 
mainder, 84  in  number,  were  injected  with  antitoxin 
obtained  from  other  sources.  In  nine  instances,  anti- 
toxin from  two  different  sources  was  injected  into  the 
same  patient. 

"  Statistics  of  the  disease  before  the  use  of  antitoxin 
are  introduced  as  control  series  ;  these  were  obtained 
from  the  fever  hospitals  of  the  Metropolitan  Asylums 
Board,  and  from  the  general  hospitals  ;  and,  like  the 
antitoxin  series,  are  compiled  from  consecutive  and  not 
from  selected  cases. 

"  The  general  mortality,  under  the  antitoxin  treat- 
ment, was  19.5  per  cent.;  a  reduction  of  10  on  the 
percentage  mortality  of  the  cases  treated  in  the  hos- 
pitals of  the  Metropolitan  Asylums  Board  in  1894. 
If  1 5  fatal  cases,  in  which  death  took  place  within 
twenty-four  hours  of  the  first  injection,  be  deducted, 
the  mortality  falls  to  15.6  per  cent.;  which  is  very 
little  more  than  half  the  mortality  during  1894  under 
other  forms  of  treatment. 

"  The  lessened  mortality  is  especially  noticeable  in 
the  earlier  years  of  life,  the  percentage  mortality  of 
children  under  five  being  26.3,  as  opposed  to  47.4. 
In    the    next    period    of  five   years,    the    percentage    of 

H 


114  EXPERIMENTS   ON    ANIMALS 

mortalit}^  is  16.O,  as  opposed  to  26.0;  whilst  after 
ten  years  of  age  the  difference  in  the  mortality  is 
slight.-^ 

^'  Laryngeal  diphtheria  is  admittedly  the  most  dan- 
gerous form.  The  laryngeal  cases  have  a  percentage 
mortalit}^  of  23.6  in  the  antitoxin,  as  compared  with 
66.0  in  the  non-antitoxin  series.  In  the  cases  in 
which  laryngeal  symptoms  are  so  severe  as  to  neces- 
sitate tracheotomy,  the  saving  of  life  by  the  use  of 
antitoxin  is  very  marked,  the  mortahty  being  reduced 
one-half,  to  36.0  as  opposed  to  71.6  per  cent. 

'*  The  strongest  evidence  of  the  value  of  the  anti- 
toxin treatment  is  that,  in  addition  to  reducing  the 
general  mortality  by  one-third,  the  duration  of  life  in 
the  fatal  cases  is  decidedl}^  prolonged.  These  two  facts 
taken  together  conclusively  prove  the  beneficial  eflfects 
of  the  antitoxin  treatment. 

'^  The  incidence  of  paralysis  is  greater  in  the  anti- 
toxin than  in  the  control  series.  This  increased  number 
is  partly  explained  by  the  lessened  mortahty,  and  partly 
b}^  the  longer  duration  of  life  in  the  fatal  cases  afford- 
ing time  for  the  development  of  paralytic  symptoms. 
The  percentage  mortahty  of  those  who  had  some  form 
or  other  of  paralysis  is  lower  in  the  antitoxin  than 
in  the  control  series  ;  so  that,  notwithstanding  the 
apparent  greater  risk  of  paralysis  supervening,  the 
probability  of  final   recovery  is  greater. 

"  No  definite  conclusion  can  be  drawn,  for  the 
reasons  stated  in  the  body  of  the  report,  as  to  the 
advantage  of  administering  the  whole  of  the  antitoxin 
within  forty-eight  hours  of  the  first  injection,  or  con- 
tinuing it  for  a  longer  period  ;  but  evidence  is  afforded 
of  the  importance  of  its  administration  as  early  as 
^  After  childhood,  the  disease  is  much  less  fatal. 


DIPHTHERIA  115 

possible  in  the  course  of  the  disease ;  the  percentage 
mortality  in  cases  injected  on  the  first  and  second  days 
of  the  disease  being  10. 7,  as  compared  with  25.5  for 
those  first  receiving  the  injection  on  the  fifth  or  some 
subsequent  day. 

"  No  conclusion  can  be  drawn,  from  the  cases  re- 
ported on,  as  to  the  amount  of  antitoxin  which  should 
be  used  to  produce  the  best  effects  ;  but  they  show  that 
the  administration  of  very  large  doses  is  followed  by  no 
pronounced  ill  effects. 

"  The  injection  of  antitoxin  is  responsible  for  the 
production  of  rashes,  joint-pains,  and  possibly  for  the 
occurrence  of  late  pyrexia.  In  34.7  per  cent,  the  in- 
jections were  followed  by  rashes.  Some  amount  of 
fever  accompanied  the  rash  in  60  per  cent.  In  only 
9.4  per  cent,  of  those  in  whom  rashes  were  observed 
did  death  ensue. 

"Joint-pains  were  observed  in  40,  or  6.3  per  cent, 
of  the  whole  number,  and  all  but  five  of  them  had  a 
rash  as  well. 

"  In  26,  or  65  per  cent,  of  the  joint-pains,  some  rise 
of  temperature  accompanied  the  pain.  A  rise  of  tem- 
perature during  convalescence,  accompanied  by  either 
rash  or  joint-pain,  occurred  in  27,  or  4.2  per  cent,  of 
the  whole  number. 

"  No  connection  could  be  traced  between  the  amount 
of  antitoxin  administered  and  the  occurrence  of  rashes 
or  late  pyrexia,  but  the  pain  in  and  about  the  joints 
appears  to  have  a  relationship  to  the  amount  of  anti- 
toxin used. 

"  The  results  of  the  Committee's  investigation  tend 
to  show  that  by  the  use  of  antitoxin — 

1.  The  general  mortality  is  reduced  by  one-third. 

2.  The  mortality  in  tracheotomy  falls  by  one-half. 


ii6  EXPERIMENTS   ON   ANIMALS 

3.  Extension  of  membrane  to  the  larynx  very  rarely 
occurs  after  the  administration  of  antitoxin. 

4.  The  duration  of  life  in  the  fatal  cases  is  decidedly 
prolonged. 

5.  The  number  of  fatal  cases  is  less  when  antitoxin 
is  used  early  in  the  illness  than  in  those  which  do  not 
receive  it  until  a  later  period. 

6.  The  frequency  of  the  occurrence  of  paralysis  is  not 
diminished,  but  the  percentage  of  recoveries  in  cases 
with  paralysis  is  slightly  increased.^ 

7.  Rashes  are  produced  in  about  one-third  of  the 
cases,  and  are  attributable  to  the  antitoxin. 

8.  Pain,  and  occasionally  swelling  about  the  joints,  are 
produced  in  a  number  of  cases. 

9.  Even  when  used  in  large  doses,  no  serious  ill  effects 
have  followed  the  injection  of  antitoxin." 


The  foregoing  reports  belong  to  ancient  history. 
Let  us  leave  them,  and  study  the  record  of  the  hos- 
pitals of  the  Metropolitan  Asylums  Board.  They  serve  a 
city  of  I  2  I  square  miles,  and  4J  millions  of  inhabitants. 

^  For  an  exhaustive  and  wise  study  of  the  diphtheritic  paralyses, 
see  Dr.  Woollacott's  essay  in  the  Lancet^  26th  August  1899  :  "The 
use  of  antitoxic  serum  in  the  treatment  of  diphtheria  has,  up  to  the 
present  time,  in  the  London  fever  hospitals,  had  two  main  results 
— the  death-rate  has  fallen,  while  the  paralysis-rate  has  risen.  In 
the  hospitals  of  the  Metropolitan  Asylums  Board,  the  former  has 
been  reduced  from  29  per  cent,  to  15.3  per  cent.,  while  the  latter 
has  risen  from  13  per  cent,  to  as  high  as  21  per  cent,  in  1896. 
This  increase  of  paralysis  is  chiefly  due  to  the  fact  that  many 
more  patients  now  recover  from  the  primary  disease,  and  live  long 
enough  for  paralysis  to  show  itself.  During  the  last  two  years^ 
however^  the  occurrence  of  paralysis  has  begiui  to  diminish  in  fre- 
quency. .  .  .  The  earlier  antitoxin  is  givoi  in  diphtheria^  the  less 
likely  is  paralysis  to  folloivP  It  is  to  be  borne  in  mind  that  post- 
diphtheritic paralysis,  in  the  great  majority  of  cases,  affects  only  a 
very  small  group  of  muscles  ;  of  Dr.  Woollacott's  tabulated  cases, 
377  were  of  this  kind,  and  97  were  severe.  And  "  the  type  of 
paralysis  has,  on  the  whole,  become  less  severe,  or  at  all  events 
less  dangerous  to  life." 


DIPHTHERIA  117 

The  use  of  the  antitoxin  in  the  hospitals  of  the  Metro- 
pohtan  Asylums  Board  began  in  1895.  It  had  been 
used  in  1894  on  a  few  cases  only,  during  the  latter 
part  of  the  year,  and  had  been  procured  with  much 
difficulty  from  various  sources,  chiefly  from  the  Insti- 
tute of  Preventive  Medicine.  On  9th  November  1894, 
the  Board  applied  to  the  Laboratories'  Committee  of 
the  Royal  Colleges  of  Physicians  and  of  Surgeons, 
asking  them  to  undertake  the  supply.  Arrangements 
were  made  for  this  purpose;  and  the  sum  of^iOOO 
was  given  by  the  Goldsmiths'  Company.  Dr.  Sims 
Woodhead,  then  Director  of  the  Laboratories  of  the 
Conjoint  Colleges,  now  Professor  of  Patholog}'  at  Cam- 
bridge, was  put  in  charge  of  the  bacteriological  work 
and  the  preparation  of  the  serum,  with  a  host  of 
expert  colleagues  :  the  administration  of  the  treatment 
was  the  work  of  the  medical  officers  of  the  hospitals 
of  the  Metropolitan  Asylums  Board.  The  experiences 
of  1895  are  given  in  the  following  passages  from  the 
joint  report  to  the  Board  from  the  medical  superin- 
tendents : — 

"The  period  covered  by  the  report  extends  from  ist 
January  1 895  to  31st  December  of  the  same  year. 
During  this  time — with  the  exception  of  an  interval  of 
three  months  at  the  Eastern  Hospital,  when  its  use  was 
suspended  ;  of  three  months  at  the  Fountain,  and  to  a 
considerable  extent  throughout  the  year  at  the  South- 
Eastern  Hospital,  when  all  cases  were  consecutively 
treated,  irrespective  of  their  severity — the  serum  was 
administered  only  to  cases  which  at  the  titne  of  admis- 
sion were  severe,  or  which  threatened  to  become  so.  In  a 
certain  number,  the  patients  being  moribund  at  the  time 
of  their  arrival,  and  beyond  the  reach  of  any  treatment, 
no  antitoxin  was  given.  No  change  has  taken  place 
during  the  year  in   the  local  treatment  of  the  cases,  nor 


ii8  EXPERIMENTS   ON   ANIMALS 

Jias  there  been  any  new  factor  in  the  treatment  other 
than  the  injection  of  antitoxin. 

"  It  must  be  clearly  understood  that,  with  the  excep- 
tions previously  stated,  it  has  been  the  practice  at  each 
of  the  hospitals  to  administer  serum  to  those  cases  only 
in  which  tJie  symptoms  oji  admission  were  sufficiently 
pronoiinced  to  give  rise  to  anxiety ,  the  mild  cases  not 
receiving  any. 

'*  No  less  thaji  46.4  per  cent,  of  the  antitoxin  cases  were 
under  five  years  of  age  ^  against  32.5  per  cent,  i^i  the  non- 
antitoxin  g7'oup ;  and  only  16. 1  per  cent,  in  the  former 
class  were  over  ten  years  of  age,  against  33.8  per  cent, 
in  the  latter.  The  high  fatality  of  diphtheria  in  the 
earlier  years  of  life  is  notorious. 

"  It  is  obvious,  therefore,  that  to  compare  the  mortality 
of  those  treated  with  antitoxin  with  that  of  those  which 
during  the  same  period  were  not  so  treated,  would  be  to 
institute  a  comparison  between  the  severe  cases  and 
those  of  which  a  large  proportion  were  mild.  This 
would  clearly  be  misleading. 

"  The  only  method  by  which  an  accurate  estimate  can 
be  obtained  as  to  the  merits  of  any  particular  form  of 
treatment,  is  by  comparing  a  series  of  cases  in  which  the 
remedy  has  been  employed  with  another  series  not  so 
treated,  but  which  are  similar,  so  far  as  can  be,  in  other 
respects.  This,  in  the  present  instance,  is  impossible  ; 
but,  having  regard  to  the  fact  that  61.8  of  the  1895  cases 
were  treated  with  serum,  an  approximately  accurate  con- 
clusion can  be  drawn  by  contrasting  all  cases  of  diph- 
theria completed  during  1895,  the  antitoxin  period,  with 
all  cases  completed  during  1894. 

"The  year  1894  has  been  selected  for  the  purpose  of 
comparison,  not  only  because  it  is  the  year  immediately 
preceding  the  antitoxin  period,  but  because  the  average 
severity  of  the  cases  has  been,  in  our  opinion,  about 
equal.  Moreover,  the  death-rate  in  1894  was  slightly 
lower  than  it  had  been  in  any  previous  year. 

^* ...  Of  3042  patients  of  all  ages  treated  during  1894, 
902  died — a  mortality  of  29.6  per  cent. ;  whereas,  of  3529 


DIPHTHERIA 


119 


cases  treated  during  1895,  796  died — a  mortality  of  22.6 
per  cent.  ;  the  difference  in  percentage  between  the  two 
rates  being  therefore  7.1.  This,  assuming  that  the 
former  rate  would  otherwise  have  been  maintained,  re- 
presents a  saving  of  250  lives  during  the  past  year. 


Influence  of  Age. 

Table  showing  variations  in  reduction  of  mortality  obtained  with 
A  ntitoxin  at  different  ages. 


Antituxin  Cases, 

All  Cases, 

All  Case* 

Ages. 

1895. 

1895. 

1894. 

n  Mortalit 
4  and  189s 

tn 

!& 

"5  «     ; 

w 

1 

•3  c    ■ 
«  V    < 

V 

CO 

■-  c 
"5  M 

6 

a 
%) 

P 

379 

Mort 
per  c 

c3 

Mort 
per  c 

So- 

te"2 

Under    5  . 

1013 

37.4! 

1453 

497 

34.2 

II7I 

556 

47-4 

13.2 

„       10  . 

1829 

S7S 

314 

2720 

744 

27-3 

2246 

836 

37-2 

9.9 

„       15  • 

2056 

606 

29.4 

3144 

779 

24.7 

2609 

877 

33-6 

8.9 

All  ages     . 

2182 

615 

28. 1 

3529 

796 

22.5 

3042 

902 

29.6 

7-1 

For  every  age-group,  with  the  single  exception  of  that  compris- 
ing the  years  1 5  to  20  (the  numbers  of  which  are  small),  the  per- 
centage mortality  was  less  in  the  1895  than  in  the  1894  cases.  The 
reduction  in  mortality  was  greatest  in  early  life. 


Influence  of  Time  of  coming  under  Treatment. 

Table  showing  percentage  mortality  in  relation  to  day  0/  disease 
on  which  cases  came  under  treatment. 


Day  of  Disease. 

1894. 

1895- 

Difference. 

1st     . 

22.5 

11.7 

lO.S 

2nd  .... 

27.0 

12.5 

14-5 

3rd  .          .         .         . 

29.4 

22.0 

7-4 

4th   .... 

31.6 

25.1 

6.5 

5th  and  over     . 

30.8 

27.1 

3-7 

'             Total 

29.6 

22.5 

7.1 

"  It  will  be  seen  that  the  percentage  mortality  of  cases 
admitted  on  the  same   day  of  disease   is  less   in  every 


120  EXPERIMENTS   ON    ANIMALS 

instance  in  the  year  1895.  The  difference  is  most 
marked  in  the  case  of  those  patients  who  were  admitted 
on  the  first  and  second  day  of  illness,  viz.,  10.8  and  14.5 
respectively. 

''Both  in  1894  and  1895,  no  less  than  over  37  per 
cent,  of  the  patients  were  admitted  on,  or  after,  the  fifth 
day  of  disease.  And,  moreover,  while  in  1894  as  many 
as  59.2  per  cent,  of  the  fatal  cases  were  not  brought 
under  treatment  until  the  fourth  day,  or  later,  in  1895, 
the  antitoxin  year,  the  proportion  was  even  higher,  viz., 
6j .J  per  cent. 

Laiyngeal  Cases 

"  The  tracheotomy  results  at  each  hospital  are  more 
favourable  in  the  year  1895  than  in  1894,  the  mortahty 
ranging  in  the  latter  year  at  the  different  hospitals 
between  90  per  cent,  and  59.4  per  cent.,  whereas  in 
1895  the  range  was  from   56.2  to  40.5. 

"  The  combined  tracheotomy  mortality  for  all  the 
hospitals,  which  in  1894  was  70.4  per  cent.,  has  fallen 
to  49.4  per  cent,  in  1895.  This  is  a  lower  death-rate 
than  has  ever  been  recorded  in  any  single  hospital  of 
the  Board  for  a  year's  consecutive  tracheotomies.  In 
other  words,  rather  more  than  50  per  cent,  of  children 
on  whom  the  operation  has  been  performed  have  been 
saved  since  the  employment  of  antitoxin.  In  one  of  the 
hospitals  no  less  than  a  fraction  under  60  per  cent,  sur- 
vived, although  the  recoveries  in  that  hospital  in  any 
previous  year  did  not  exceed  25  per  cent.,  and  in  the 
preceding  year — viz.,  1894 — were  as  low  as  10  per  cent. 

"  The  improved  results  in  the  tracheotomy  cases  of 
1895  have  also  been  shared  by  analogous  cases  in  which 
the  operation  was  not  performed.  The  percentage  mor- 
tality of  all  laryngeal  cases  has  fallen  from  62  in  1894  ^^ 
42.3  in  1895. 

"  Moreover,  the  number  of  laryngeal  cases  which  re- 
quired tracheotomy  has  fallen  in  1895  ^o  45-3  P^i"  cent., 
whereas  in  1894  it  was  56  per  cent. 


DIFHTHKRIA 


121 


"  The  following  tables  briefly  suiiuiiarisc  llic  foregoing 
results.  As  no  returns  for  1894  were  furnished  by  the 
Fountain  Hospital  by  reason  of  the  smallncss  of  the 
numbers,  the  Fountain  cases  have  also  been  omitted 
from  the  1895  figures,  in  order  that  the  two  series  may 
be  rendered  strictly  comparable  : — 


I.   Cojuparaiivc  MortalHy  of  I .aryiii^cal  Cases  at  all  Hospitals^ 
except  the  Fountain. 


Year. 

Cases. 

Deaths. 

Percentage 
Mortality. 

1894 
1895 

466 
468 

289 
196 

62.0 
41.8 

2.  Comparative  Results  in  IVacheotofny  Cases  at  all  Hospitals, 
except  the  Fountain. 


Year. 

Cases. 

261 
219 

Deaths. 

Percentage 
Mortality. 

1894 
1895 

184 

loS 

70.4 
49-3 

3.  Comparative  Number  of  Laryngeal  Cases  luhic/i  required 
Tt'acheotomy  at  all  Hospitals,  except  the  Fountain. 


Year. 

Cases. 

Tracheotomies. 

261 
219 

Percentage  of 
Tracheotomies. 

1894 
1895 

466 
468 

56.0 
46.8 

"  On  these  tables  further  comment  seems  unnecessary. 


122  EXPERIMENTS   ON   ANIMALS 


Suiiunary 

"The  improved  results  in  the  diphtheria  cases  treated 
during  the  year  1 895,  which  are  indicated  by  the  fore- 
going statistics  and  cHnical  observations,  are — 

1.  A  great  reduction  in  the  mortality  of  cases  brought 
under  treatment  on  the  first  and  second  day  of  illness. 

2.  The  lowering  of  the  combined  general  mortality  to 
a  point  below  that  of  any  former  year. 

3.  The  still  more  remarkable  reduction  in  the  mortality 
of  the  laryngeal  cases. 

4.  The  uniform  improvement  in  the  results  of  trache- 
otomy at  each  separate  hospital. 

5.  The  beneficial  effect  produced  on  the  clinical  course 
of  the  disease. 

Conclusions 

**  A  consideration  of  the  foregoing  statistical  tables 
and  clinical  observations,  covering  a  period  of  twelve 
months,  and  embracing  a  large  number  of  cases,  in  our 
opinion  sufficiently  demonstrates  the  value  of  antitoxin 
in  the  treatment  of  diphtheria. 

**  It  must  be  clearly  understood,  however,  that  to  obtain 
the  largest  measure  of  success  with  antitoxin  it  is  essen- 
tial that  the  patient  be  brought  under  its  influence  at 
a  comparatively  early  date — if  possible,  not  later  than 
the  second  day  of  disease.  From  this  time  onwards,  the 
chance  of  a  successful  issue  will  diminish  in  proportion 
to  the  length  of  time  which  has  elapsed  before  the  treat- 
ment is  commenced.  This,  though  doubtless  true  of 
other  methods,  is  of  still  greater  moment  in  the  case  of 
treatment  by  antitoxin. 

"  Certain  secondary  effects  not  unfrequently  arise  as  a 
direct  result  of  the  injection  of  antitoxin  in  the  form  in 
which  it  has  at  present  to  be  administered,  and  even 
assuming  that  the  incidence  of  the  normal  complications 
of  diphtheria  is  greater  than  can  be  accounted  for  by  the 


DIPHTHERIA 


123 


increased  number  of  recoveries,  we  have  no  hesitation  in 
expressing  the  opinion  that  these  drawbacks  are  insig- 
nificant when  taken  in  conjunction  with  the  lessened 
fatality  which  has  been  associated  with  the  use  of  this 
remedy. 

'•  We  are  further  of  the  opinion  that  in  antitoxic  scrum 
we  possess  a  remedy  of  distinctly  greater  value  in  the 
treatment  of  diphtheria  than  any  other  with  which  we 
are  acquainted." 


Now  let  us  take  the  whole  record  of  all  the  hospitals 
together.  The  disease  was  first  admitted  in  1888;  this 
year  is  therefore  to  be  reckoned  as  incomplete. 


Year. 

Percentage 
Mortality. 

Year. 

1 

Percentage 
j  Mortality. 

1888 

59-35 

1 

1897              -           .           -    '       17-69 

1889 

40.74 

1898 

15-37 

i  1890 

33-55 

1899 

13-95 

,  1891 

30-63 

1    1900 

12.27 

1892 

29-35 

I    1 901 

II. 15 

1893       .      -      . 

30.42 

i    1902 

11.04 

1894 

29.29 

i    1903 

i         9.69 

1895,  first   antitoxin) 
year       .         .         j 

22.85 

1904 
'    1905 

;    10.08 

i      8.3 

1896 

21.20 

I 

i 

These  results,  of  course,  are  but  one  instance  of  what 
has  happened,  since  1895,  in  every  country  all  over 
the  civilised  world.  Scciinis  jiidicat  orhis  tcrrarnm.  We 
have  Siegert's  tables  (1900),  based  on  no  less  than 
40,038  cases  admitted  in  nine  years  to  sixty-nine 
hospitals  in  Germany,  Austria,  Switzerland,  and  Paris. 
He  divides  these  nine  years  into  a  "  pre-serum  period," 
an  "  introduction  3'ear,"  and  a  "  serum  period."  In  the 
pre-serum   period   the   general   mortality  was  41.5,   and 


124  EXPERIMENTS   ON    ANIMALS 

the  mortality  of  cases  requiring  operation  was  60  ;  in 
the  serum  period,  the  general  mortality  was  16.5,  and 
the  mortality  of  cases  requiring  operation  was  37- 5- 

Any  bad  results  that  have  been  recorded  from  the 
use  of  the  antitoxin  are  so  rare,  in  comparison  with  the 
hundreds  of  thousands  of  injections  made,  that  they  do 
not  come  to  be  considered  here.  And,  even  though  a 
few  have  occurred,  we  may  be  sure  that  some  of  them 
were  due,  not  to  the  antitoxin,  but  to  the  natural  course 
of  the  disease.^  The  lesser  drawbacks,  the  occurrence 
of  joint  pains  and  of  rashes,  are  transient  and  in  no 
way  serious. 

It  has  been  supposed,  and  said,  that  the  use  of  the 
antitoxin  increases  the  complications  of  the  disease. 
On  this  point,  the  best  authority  is  Professor  Wood- 
head's  monumental  Report  (1901),  deaHng  with  the 
Metropolitan  Asylums  Board  cases  for  1895  and  1896. 
He  sums  up  the  matter  thus  : — 

''  The  free  use  of  antitoxin  does  not  raise  the  per- 
centage of  cases  of  albuminuria.  As  regards  vomiting, 
the  statistics  give  little  information,  as  vomiting  is  usually 
met  with  only  in  the  very  severe  cases.  This  also  holds 
good  of  anuria.  The  number  of  cases  of  adenitis  appears 
to  be  distinctly  reduced  by  the  use  of  antitoxin,  as  the 
percentage  of  cases  falls  as  the  injections  of  antitoxin  are 
pushed.  The  use  of  antitoxin  has  also  had  a  perceptible 
effect  in  diminishing  the  cases  of  nephritis,  and  it  cer- 
tainly has  not  aggravated  the  kidney  complications  of 
diphtheria.  There  can  be  no  doubt  that  in  cases  treated 
with  antitoxin  there  is  a  greater  percentage  of  cases  in 
which  joint-pains  occur  than  in  cases  not  so  treated  ; 
these,    however,    are    transitory,   and    are    probably   the 

1  This,  of  course,  does  not  apply  to  two  instances,  in  1901,  of 
accidental  contamination  of  serum.  See,  for  an  account  of  these, 
The  British  Medical  Jourjial,  November  1901. 


DIPHTHERIA  125 

result  of  some  slight  change  in  the  blood  set  up  by  the 
action  of  the  serum  itself,  and  not  by  the  antitoxic  sub- 
stance in  the  serum.  The  number  of  primary  abscesses 
has  undoubtedly  been  reduced  by  the  use  of  antitoxin. 
It  may  also  be  accepted  that  antitoxic  serum  has  some 
effect  in  temporarily  raising  the  temperature,  but  only 
during  the  periods  of  joint-pains  and  serum  rashes ;  all 
these,  however,  are  of  comparatively  slight  importance 
as  compared  with  the  effect  the  antitoxin  has  in  diminish- 
ing the  percentage  mortality  and  alleviating  the  more 
severe  symptoms. 

"  It  is  of  importance  to  observe  that  amongst  the  cases 
of  paralysis  following  diphtheria  the  death-rate  (32  per 
cent.)  was  actually  higher  amongst  those  not  injected 
with  antitoxin  than  amongst  those  where  antitoxin  was 
used  (30.5  per  cent.),  although  the  former  paralyses  must 
be  looked  upon  as  being  the  result  of  a  comparatively 
mild  attack  of  the  disease.  From  this  it  is  evident  that, 
when  once  paralysis  supervenes  in  these  cases,  it  is  quite 
as  fatal  in  its  effects  as  in  the  cases  (usually  those  of  a 
more  severe  type)  where  antitoxin  has  been  given.  Anti- 
toxin ca7i7iot  cure  the  degeneration  of  the  ner\'e,  but  it 
can  neutralise  the  diphtheria  toxin,  and  so  put  a  stop  to 
the  advance  of  the  degenerative  changes  due  to  its  action. 
In  1896,  when,  of  course,  antitoxin  was  given  much  more 
freely,  the  percentage  of  deaths  in  the  non-injected  cases 
where  paralysis  had  come  on  fell  to  18.4. 

"  Antitoxin  rashes  occur  at  a  comparatively  late  stage 
of  the  disease.  They  cannot  be  looked  upon  as  in  an}- 
way  dangerous,  although  the  secondary  rise  of  tempe- 
rature, and  the  irritation  of  the  skin  which  usualh'  accom- 
pany their  presence  are  ver}'  undesirable  complications, 
and  may  retard  somewhat  the  convalescence  of  nervous 
and  irritable  patients. 

*'  Antitoxin  appears  to  diminish  the  liability  of  the  lungs 
to  inflammator}'  change  in  severe  attacks  of  diphtheria." 


126 


EXPERIMENTS   ON    ANIMALS 


Now  let  us  take  another  point  of  view.  If  anybody 
really  doubts  whether  the  antitoxin  did  really  save  these 
lives  in  the  hospitals  of  the  Metropolitan  Asylums 
Board,  what  answer  has  he  got  to  the  following  table  ? 
It  is  published  in  the  Board's  Report  for  1904,  and 
was  drawn  up  by  Dr.  MacCombie,  Medical  Superinten- 
dent of  the  Brook  Hospital.  It  shows  the  supreme 
importance  of  giving  the  antitoxin  at  the  very  beginning 
of  the  disease.  The  figures  in  brackets  are  the  total 
numbers  of  the  cases  in  the  eight  years  : — 

Percentage  Mortality  accordijig  to  Time  of  coDiing  tinder 
Treatment. 


Day  of  Disease. 

1897. 

1 

1898. 

1899. 

1900. 

1901. 

1902. 

1903. 

1904. 

(204)  1st 

0,0 

0,0 

0.0 

0.0 

0.0 

0,0 

0.0 

0.0 

(1278)  2nd  , 

5.4, 

5-0 

3.^ 

3-6 

4.1 

4.6 

4.2 

5-43 

(1374)  3rd  . 

II.5I 

14.3 

12.2 

6.7 

II. 9 

10.5 

17.6 

10.63 

(1086)  4th  . 

19.0 

18.1 

20.0 

14.9 

12.4 

19.8 

16.7 

19.51 

(1382)  5th 

and  after  . 

1 

21.0 

1 

22.5 

20.4 

21.2 

16.6 

19.4 

17.3 

1311 

Here  we  see  that  in  1482  patients,  who  got  the 
antitoxin  within  forty-eight  hours  of  the  onset  of  the 
disease,  the  mortality  was  2\  per  cent.  In  1278 
patients,  who  did  not  get  the  antitoxin  till  the  third 
day,  the  mortality  was  iif  per  cent.  That  is  the 
result  of  one  day's  delay  over  sending  the  child  into 
hospital. 

Again,  it  is  not  only  lives  that  are  saved,  but  suffer- 
ing that  is  avoided.  Just  lately,  at  a  meeting  of  the 
Chelsea  Clinical  Society  (May  1906),  reference  was 
made  to  this  point  by  Dr.  Foord  Caiger,  Medical  Super- 
intendent of  the  South-Western  Hospital.  *'  The 
number  of  tracheotomies  is  less  than  half  what  it  used 


dipiitiip:ria  127 

to  be  ; "  and  again,  "  Instead  of  the  spectacle  of  a 
number  of  patients  in  great  distress,  with  swollen  necks 
and  stuffed-up  noses,  fretful  and  crying,  such  cases  are 
now  quite  the  exception,  and,  in  the  few  one  does  come 
across,  the  condition  lasts  for  a  comparatively  short 
time."  And  again,  "  It  was  quite  unusual  (before 
1895)  for  a  nurse  to  care  to  stay  very  long  in  charge 
of  one  of  the  diphtheria  wards,  because  she  found  the 
work  so  depressing.  But  nowadays  the  diphtheria 
wards  are  perhaps  the  most  popular  in  the  hospital,  a 
fact  which  is  mainly  owing  to  the  change  in  the  general 
aspect  of  the  patients  and  the  greatly  reduced  mor- 
tality."     {Cli)iical  Journal,  May  23,   1906.) 


V 

TETANUS 

Before  bacteriology,  the  cause  of  tetanus  (lock-jaw)  was 
unknown,  and  men  were  free  to  imagine  that  it  was 
due  to  inflammation  travelling  up  an  injured  nerve  to 
the  central  nervous  system.  This  false  and  mischievous 
theory  was  abolished  by  the  experimental  work  of 
Sternberg  (1880),  Carle  and  Rattone  (1884),  and 
Nicolaier  (1884),  who  proved,  once  and  for  all,  that  the 
disease  is  an  infection  by  a  specific  flagellate  organism. 
Their  work  was  of  the  utmost  difficulty,  for  many 
reasons.  First,  because  tetanus,  in  some  tropical 
countries,  is  so  common  that  it  may  fairly  be  called 
endemic  ;  and  many  of  these  tropical  cases,  there  being 
no  record  of  any  external  infection,  had  been  taken  as 
evidence  that  the  disease  can  occur  **  of  itself."  Of 
this  frequency  of  tetanus  in  tropical  countries,  Sir 
Patrick  Manson,  in  his  book  on  Tropical  Diseases  (1898), 
says  : — 

'' Tetanus  is  an  exceedingly  common  disease  in  some 
tropical  countries.  In  Western  Africa,  for  example,  a 
large  proportion  of  wounds,  no  matter  how  trifling  as 
wounds  they  may  be,  if  they  are  fouled  by  earth  or  dirt, 
result  in  tetanus.  The  French  in  Senegambia  have 
found  this  to  their  cost.  A  gentleman  who  had  travelled 
much  in  Congoland  told  me  that  certain  tribes  poison 
their  arrows  by  simply  dipping  the  tips  in  a  particular 

kind  of  mud.     A  wound  from  these  arrows  is  nearly  sure 

128 


TETANUS  129 

to  cause  tetanus.  In  many  countries,  so  general  and  so 
extensive  is  the  distribution  of  the  tetanus-bacillus  that 
trismus  neonatorum  (tetanus  of  newly-born  infants)  is  a 
principal  cause  of  the  excessive  infant  mortality." 


Next,  because  the  tetanus-bacillus  has  its  natural 
abode  in  the  superficial  layers  of  the  soil  :  here  it  is 
associated  with  a  vast  number  of  other  organisms,  so 
that  its  identification  and  isolation  were  a  work  of 
immeasurable  complexity.  What  mixed  company  it 
keeps,  is  shown  by  Houston's  estimate  of  the  number 
of  microbes  per  gramme  in  twenty-one  samples  of 
different  soils.  This  number  ranged  from  8326  in 
virgin  sand,  and  475,282  in  virgin  peat,  to  i  i  5,014,492 
in  the  soil  from  the  trench  of  a  sewage-farm.  In  all  rich 
and  well-manured  soil  the  tetanus-bacillus  may  possibly 
be  present ;  but  it  was  the  work  of  years  to  dissociate 
it  from  the  myriads  of  organisms  outnumbering  it. 

Next,  because  it  cannot  be  got  to  grow  in  cultures 
exposed  to  the  air  :  its  proper  place  is  below  the  surface 
of  the  soil,  away  from  the  air  ;  it  is  "  strictly  anaerobic," 
and  the  attempts  to  cultivate  it  by  ordinary  methods 
failed  again  and  again.  It  had  to  be  cultivated  below 
the  surface  of  certain  nutrient  media,  or  in  a  special 
atmosphere  of  nitrogen  or  hydrogen. 

These  and  other  difficulties  for  many  years  dela3''ed 
the  final  proof  of  the  true  pathology  of  tetanus.  The 
success  of  the  work  was  mainly  due  to  Nicolaier.  He 
started  from  the  well-known  fact  that  tetanus  mostly 
comes  of  wounds  or  scratches  contaminated  with 
particles  of  earth — such  mischances  as  the  grinding  of 
dirt  or  gravel  into  the  skin,  or  the  tearing  of  it  by  a 
splinter  of  wood  or  a  rusty  nail  ;  as  Dr.  Poore  says,  in 
his  Milroy  Lectures  (1899),  *' Every  child  who  falls  on 

I 


130  EXPERIMENTS   ON   ANIMALS 

the  ground  and  gets  an  abrasion  of  the  skin,  all 
tillers  of  the  soil  who  get  accidental  wounds  in  the 
course  of  duty,  and  every  horse  which  '  breaks  its 
knees '  by  falling  in  the  London  streets,  runs  potentially 
a  risk  of  inoculation  with  tetanus."  Nicolaier  there- 
fore studied  the  various  microbes  of  the  soil,  and  made 
inoculations  of  garden-mould  under  the  skin  of  rabbits. 
He  was  able,  by  these  inoculations,  to  produce  tetanus 
in  them  ;  and  the  discharge  from  the  points  of  inocula- 
tion, put  under  the  skin  of  other  rabbits,  produced  the 
disease  again.  He  also  identified  the  bacillus,  and 
cultivated  it ;  but  in  these  cultures  it  was  mixed  with 
other  organisms,  and  he  failed  to  isolate  it  from  them. 
Carle  and  Rattone,  and  Rosenbach,  were  able  to  produce 
tetanus  in  animals  b}^  inoculating  them  with  discharge 
from  the  wounds  of  patients  attacked  by  the  disease. 
Finally,  Kitasato,  in  1889,  found  a  way  of  obtaining 
pure  cultures  of  the  bacillus.  Beginning  with  impure 
cultures  such  as  Nicolaier  had  made,  he  kept  these  at  a 
temperature  of  ^6""  C.  till  the  bacillus  had  spored  ;  then, 
by  repeated  exposures  of  the  cultures  to  a  temperature 
of  80°  C.  for  three-quarters  of  an  hour  at  a  time,  he 
killed-ofl:^  all  organisms  except  the  spores  of  the  tetanus- 
bacillus  ;  then  he  kept  these  in  an  atmosphere  of 
hydrogen,  at  a  temperature  of  20'  C,  and  thus  got 
pure  cultures. 

Brieger,  Frankel,  Cohen,  Sidney  Martin,  Kanthack, 
and  others,  have  studied  the  chemical  products  of  the 
disease,  have  obtained  them  from  cultures  and  from 
infected  tissues,  and  have  been  able  with  these  toxins 
to  produce  the  disease  in  animals.  As  with  the  other 
infective  diseases,  so  with  tetanus,  there  have  been 
two  main  lines  of  researches ;  the  one,  toward  a  fuller 
knowledge  of  the  chemical  changes  in  the  blood  and  in 


TETANUS  131 

the  central  nervous  system  ;  the  other,  toward  a  fuller 
knowledge  of  the  nature  and  ways  of  the  bacillus,  and 
its  method  of  invasion.  Before  any  study  of  immunity 
or  immunisation,  or  of  neutralisation  of  the  toxins  in 
man  by  an  antitoxin,  came  the  study  of  the  toxins 
and  of  the  bacillus.  It  was  proved,  by  an  immense 
quantity  of  hard  work,  that  the  bacillus  does  not  tend 
to  invade  the  blood,  or  to  pass  beyond  the  lymphatic 
glands  in  the  immediate  neighbourhood  of  the  site  of 
inoculation  ;  that  it  stays  in  and  about  the  wound,  and 
there  multiplies,  and  from  this  site  pours  into  the  blood 
the  chemical  products  which  cause  the  disease  ;  and 
that  these  chemical  substances  have  a  selective  action 
on  certain  nerve-cells  in  the  brain  and  the  spinal  cord. 
This  is  the  bare  outline  of  the  facts  ;  and  no  account 
can  be  given  here  of  the  intricate  problems  of  bacteri- 
ology and  animal  chemistry  that  have  been  answered, 
or  are  still  waiting  an  answer.  At  least,  it  is  evident 
that  the  whole  pathology  of  tetanus  was  found,  proved, 
and  interpreted  b}-  the  help  of  experiments  on  animals  ; 
and  that  these  alone  did  awa}-  with  the  old  false 
doctrine  that  the  disease  was  due  to  rapid  extension  of 
inflammation  up  a  nerve  to  the  brain. 

In  1894  came  the  use  of  an  antitoxin  in  cases  of  the 
disease,  and,  in  1895,  42  cases  were  reported,  with  27 
recoveries.  It  cannot  be  said  that  any  one  of  the 
diverse  preparations  of  tetanus-antitoxin,  up  to  this 
present  time,  has  triumphed  over  the  disease.  Tetanus 
is  of  all  diseases  the  hardest  to  reckon  with  :  the  first 
sign  of  it  is  the  last  stage  of  it ;  there  is  no  warning, 
nothing,  it  may  be,  but  a  healed  scratch,  till  the  central 
ner\'Ous  system  is  affected  with  sudden  and  rapidly 
advancing  degeneration  of  certain  cells.  These  and 
other  difficulties  have  stood  in  the  way  of  an  antitoxin 


132  EXPERIMENTS    ON    ANIMALS 

treatment ;  and  there  is  no  less  difficulty  in  estimating 
the  efficacy  of  that  treatment.  The  recovery,  under 
antitoxin,  of  a  *'  chronic  "  case  cannot  always  or  alto- 
gether be  attributed  to  the  treatment  ;  and  in  a  very 
acute  case,  antitoxin,  like  everything  else,  has  but  small 
chance  of  success.  Various  reports  on  the  antitoxin 
treatment,  published  during  1 897-1 899,  give  the  fol- 
lowing figures : — 


26  cases, 

with  12  recoveries 

98 

57 

36 

25 

22 

>                   II                   )5 

51 

,                   36                  „ 

10 

7 

Probably  the  paper  by  Dr.  Lambert  of  New  York, 
in  the  Medical  News,  July  1 900,  gives  fairly  the  general 
opinion  of  the  treatment,  so  far  as  the  subcutaneous 
administration  of  antitoxin  is  concerned  : — 

"The  following  cases  of  tetanus,  treated  with  anti- 
toxin, comprise  published  and  unpublished  cases.  We 
have  a  total  of  279  cases,  with  a  mortality  of  44.08  per 
cent. :  but  of  these  we  must  rule  out  17  cases — 4  deaths 
from  intercurrent  diseases,  8  deaths  in  cases  in  which 
the  antitoxin  was  given  but  a  few  hours  before  death, 
and  5  recoveries  in  which  antitoxin  was  not  given  until 
after  the  twelfth  day  (as  they  probably  would  have  re- 
covered without  it).  We  have  left  262  cases,  with  151 
recoveries,  and  11 1  deaths,  a  mortality  of  42.36  per  cent. 
Dividing  the  cases  into  acute  and  chronic,  we  have  124 
acute  cases,  with  35  recoveries  and  89  deaths,  a  mortality 
of  71.77  per  cent.,  and  138  chronic  cases,  with  116  re- 
coveries and  22  deaths,  a  mortality  of  15-94  per  cent.  In 
interpreting  critically  these  statistics,  we  see  that  in  acute 
cases  the  mortality  is  but  slightly  reduced,  being  but  72 
per  cent,  instead  of  88  per  cent.  But,  in  the  less  acute 
cases,  there  is  a  decided  improvement,  from  40  per  cent. 
to  16  per  cent.     Taking  the  statistics  as  a  whole,  there 


TETANUS  133 

is  a  distinct  improvement  in  the  mortality  of  tetanus  since 
the  introflnction  of  antitoxin." 

It  would  be  foreign  to  the  present  purpose  to  pursue 
this  matter  further :  for  the  other  treatments,  used  by 
Baccelli  and  by  Krokiewicz,  and  the  sub-dural  use  of 
antitoxin,  are  also  founded  on  experiments  on  animals  ; 
and  the  same  will  be  true  of  any  better  method  that 
shall  be  developed  out  of  them. 

The  preventive  use  gf  the  tetanus-antitoxin,  for  the 
immunisation  of  human  beings  or  of  animals,  has  given 
excellent  results.  Horses  arc  very  apt  to  be  infected 
by  tetanus  ;  and  the  antitoxin  has  been  used  in  veteri- 
nary practice,  both  for  prevention  and  for  cure.  The 
curative  results  are  not,  at  present,  very  good.  But,  as 
regards  protection  against  the  disease,  there  is  evidence 
that  horses  can  be  immunised  against  tetanus  by  the 
antitoxin  with  almost  mechanical  accuracy.  In  some 
parts  of  the  world,  the  loss  of  horses  by  tetanus  is 
so  common  that  their  immunity  is  a  very  important 
matter ;  and  that  the  antitoxin  does  confer  immunity 
on  them  is  shown  by  statistics  from  France  and  from 
the  United  States  : — 

1.  France. — "The  results  of  Nocard's  method  of  pre- 
ventive inoculations  in  veterinary  practice  are  most 
striking.  Among  6"^^  veterinarians,  there  have  been  in- 
oculated 2737  animals  with  preventive  doses  of  antitoxin, 
and  not  a  single  case  of  tetanus  developed  ;  while  during 
the  same  period,  in  the  same  neighbourhoods,  259  cases 
of  tetanus  developed  in  non-inoculated  animals.''  {Med. 
News,  7th  July  1900.) 

2.  United  States. — "Joseph  MacFarland  and  E.  M. 
Ranck,  in  addition  to  a  synopsis  of  the  method  of  manu- 
facture of  tetanus-antitoxin,  give  some  facts  of  interest 
and  importance  in  regard  to  its  use  for  prophylaxis 
and   treatment.      The  studies  were  made  upon  several 


134  EXPERIMENTS   ON    ANIMALS 

hundred  horses  used  for  the  production  of  various  im- 
munised serums  in  one  of  the  large  laboratories  of  the 
United  States.  The  horses,  because  of  the  constant 
manipulations,  frequentl}^  became  infected  with  tetanus, 
and  in  1897  and  1898,  when  scrupulous  cleanliness  and 
disinfection  were  the  only  precautions  employed  to  pre- 
vent the  disease,  the  death-rate  varied  from  8  to  10  per 
cent.  During  1899  nearly  two  hundred  horses  were  sub- 
jected to  systematic  immunisation  with  tetanus-antitoxin  ; 
and,  in  spite  of  otherwise  similar  conditions,  the  death- 
rate  descended  to  i  per  cent."     {Medical  Animal^  1901.) 

The  preventive  use  of  the  antitoxin  has,  of  course,  a 
very  limited  range  outside  veterinary  surgery.  Tetanus, 
thanks  to  the  use  of  antiseptic  or  aseptic  methods,  not 
only  in  hospital  surgery  but  also  in  amateur  and  domestic 
surgery,  has  become  a  very  rare  disease,  except  in 
tropical  countries.  It  is  no  longer  a  ''  hospital  disease  "  ; 
and,  even  in  war,  it  no  longer  has  anything  like  the 
frequency  that  it  had,  for  instance,  in  the  War  of  the 
Rebellion.  A  student  may  now  go  all  his  time  at  a 
large  hospital  without  seeing  more  than  a  very  few 
cases.  But,  now  and  again,  attention  is  called  to  some 
wholly  unsuspected  risk  of  the  disease.  For  example, 
certain  cases  of  tetanus  occurred  in  Dundee  among 
workers   at   the  jute-mills   there  : — 

"The  last  victim  was  a  female  worker  in  the  jute-mill, 
who,  six  days  after  a  crushed  and  lacerated  wound  of  the 
foot,  developed  tetanus  and  died  within  twenty-four  hours. 
Some  of  the  dust,  taken  from  under  the  machine  in  which 
the  foot  was  crushed,  was  found  to  contain  an  unusually 
large  number  of  tetanus-bacilli.  The  source  of  the  jute 
used  is  India."     (^Medical  News,  August  1900.) 

Again,  at  the  Gebaer  Anstalt  at  Prague,  in  1899,  an 
outbreak  of  tetanus  occurred,  with  several  deaths  ;   but 


TETANUS  135 

it    was    stopped   when   a   preventive  dose   of    the   anti- 
toxin was  given   to   the   new  patients  on  admission. 

Again,  an  amazing  number  of  deaths  from  tetanus, 
in  the  United  States,  are  due  to  wounds  of  the  hands 
with  toy-pistols.  It  is  said  that  after  the  Fourth  of 
July  festivities  in  1899,  no  less  than  83  cases  of  tetanus 
were  reported,  26  of  them  in  and  around  New  York. 
Almost  all  of  them  were  due  to  gunshot  wounds  of  the 
hand  with  toy-pistols  :  the  unclean  wad  of  the  cart- 
ridge, made  of  refuse  paper  picked  up  in  the  streets, 
penetrates  deep  into  the  tissues  of  the  hand,  taking  the 
germs  of  the  disease  with  it,  out  of  the  reach  of  surgical 
disinfection.  These  cases  of  tetanus  in  the  United  States 
from  toy-pistol  wounds  are  so  frequent,  that  immunisa- 
tion has  been  recommended  for  them.  The  Medical 
News,  1st  June  1901,  has  the  following  note  : — "  H.  G. 
Wells  states  that  tetanus  is  endemic  in  Chicago,  the 
specific  organism  being  present  in  the  dirt  of  the  streets. 
Every  Fourth  of  July  an  epidemic  occurs,  because  these 
bacilli  are  carried  deeply  into  wounds  before  wads  from 
blank  cartridges.  .  .  .  The  writer  thinks  that  such  cases 
should  receive  a  prophylactic  dose,  say,  5  c.c.  of  tetanus- 
antitoxin,  as  soon  as  possible  after  the  wound  is  first 
seen.  It  seems  certain  that  if  antitoxin  prophylaxis 
were  adopted,  there  would  be  no  further  Fourth  of  July 
epidemics,  and  this  end  would  justify  the  means." 

Again,  a  man  might  receive  a  lacerated  wound  under 
conditions  especially  favourable  to  infection  :  he  might 
tear  his  hand  in  a  stable  where  horses  had  died  of 
tetanus,  or  he  might  cut  his  finger  while  he  was  work- 
ing at  the  disease  in  a  pathological  laboratory,  or  he 
might  receive  a  poisoned  arrow-wound  out  in  Africa. 
In  any  such  emergency,  he  could  safeguard  his  life 
with  a  protective  dose  of  antitoxin. 


136  EXPERIMENTS   ON   ANIMALS 

It  remains  to  be  added,  that  the  modern  study  of 
tetanus  has  brought  into  more  general  use  the  old  rule 
that  the  wounded  tissues  in  a  severe  case  of  tetanus 
should  be  at  once  excised.  Before  Nicolaier's  work, 
while  the  theory  still  survived  that  the  disease  was 
due  to  ascending  inflammation  of  a  nerve,  this  rule  was 
neither  enforced  nor  explained. 

The  results  published  during  the  last  few  years 
{Medical  Annual,  1 905-1 906)  seem  to  show  that  the 
antitoxin  has  neither  gained  nor  lost  ground  as  a 
remedy.  It  is,  of  course,  used  in  conjunction  with  all 
other  remedies.  Perhaps,  in  a  few  years  more,  some- 
thing better  will  be  discovered.  And  that  discovery, 
when  it  comes,  will  be,  as  it  were,  Nicolaier's  gift.  The 
whole  study  of  the  disease  goes  back  straight  to  the 
rabbits  inoculated  in  i  880-1  884  :  neither  is  it  possible 
that  the  disease  should  be  further  studied,  without  the 
help  of  bacteriology. 


VI 

RABIES 

Pasteur's  study  of  rabies  began  in  1880  ;  and  the  date 
of  the  first  case  treated — Joseph  Meister,  a  shepherd- 
boy  of  Alsace — is  July  18S5.  The  first  part  of  the 
work  was  spent  in  a  prolonged  search  for  the  specific 
microbe  of  rabies.  It  was  not  found  :  its  existence  is 
a  matter  of  inference,  but  not  of  observation.^  In  his 
earlier  inoculations,  Pasteur  made  use  of  the  saliva  of 
rabid  animals ;  and  M.  Vallery-Radot  tells  the  story, 
how  Pasteur  took  him  on  one  of  his  expeditions  : — 

"  The  rabid  beast  was  in  this  case  a  huge  bull-dog, 
foaming  at  the  mouth  and  howling  in  his  cage.  All 
attempts  to  induce  the  animal  to  bite,  and  so  infect  one 
of  the  rabbits,  failed.  *  But  we  miist^  said  Pasteur, 
*  inoculate  the  rabbits  with  the  saliva.'  Accordingly  a 
noose  was  made  and  thrown,  the  dog  secured  and 
dragged  to  the  edge  of  the  cage,  and  his  jaws  tied 
together.  Choking  with  rage,  the  eyes  bloodshot,  and 
the  body  convulsed  b}'  a  violent  spasm,  the  animal  was 
stretched  on  a  table,  and  kept  motionless,  while  Pasteur, 
leaning  over  his  foaming  head,  sucked  up  into  a  narrow 
glass  tube  some  drops  of  the  saliva." 

But  these  inoculations  of  saliva  sometimes  failed  to 
produce  the  disease  ;  and,  when  they  succeeded,  the 
incubation-period  was  wholly  uncertain  :  it  might  be 
some    months     before     the    disease    appeared.        Thus 

^  This  sentence  was  written  before  the  publication  of  Professor 
Negri's  observations  (see  Medical  Annual^  1906,  p.  418). 

137 


138  EXPERIMENTS   ON    ANIMALS 

Pasteur  was  led  to  use,  instead  of  the  saliva,  an 
emulsion  of  the  brain  or  spinal  cord  ;  because,  as 
Dr.  Duboue  had  suggested,  the  central  nervous  system 
is  the  chief  seat,  the  locus  eledionis,  of  the  virus  of 
rabies.  But  these  inoculations  also  were  not  always  suc- 
cessful, nor  did  they  give  a  definite  incubation-period. 

Therefore  he  followed  with  rabies  the  method  that 
he  had  followed  with  anthrax.  As  he  had  cultivated 
the  virus  of  anthrax,  by  putting  it  where  its  develop- 
ment could  be  watched  and  controlled,  so  he  must  put 
the  virus  of  rabies  in  the  place  of  its  choice.  It  has 
a  selective  action  on  the  cells  of  the  central  nervous 
system,  a  sort  of  affinity  with  them  ;  they  are,  as  it 
were,  the  natural  home  of  rabies,  the  proper  nutrient 
medium  for  the  virus  :  therefore  the  virus  must  be 
inoculated  not  under  the  skin,  but  under  the  skull. 

These  sub-dural  inoculations  were  the  turning-point 
of  Pasteur's  discovery.  The  first  inoculation  was  made 
by  M.  Roux  : — 

"  Next  da}',  when  I  informed  Pasteur  that  the  intra- 
cranial inoculation  offered  no  difficulty,  he  was  moved 
with  pity  for  the  dog.  *  Poor  beast,  his  brain  is  doubt- 
less injured :  he  must  be  paralysed.'  Without  reply  I 
went  down  to  the  basement  to  fetch  it,  and  let  it  come 
into  the  laboratory.  Pasteur  did  not  like  dogs,  but  when 
he  saw  this  one,  full  of  life,  inquisitively  rummaging 
about  in  all  directions,  he  exhibited  the  greatest  delight, 
and  lavished  most  charming  words  upon  it." 

Henceforth  all  uncertainty  was  at  an  end,  and  the 
way  was  clear  ahead  :  Pasteur  had  now  to  deal  with 
a  virus  that  had  a  definite  period  of  incubation,  and  a 
suitable  medium  for  development.  The  central  nervous 
system  was  to  the  virus  of  rabies  what  the  test-tube 
was  to  the  virus  of  fowl-cholera   or   anthrax.     As   he 


RABIES  139 

had  controlled  these  diseases,  had  turned  them  this 
way  and  that,  attenuated  and  intensified  them,  so  he 
could  control  rabies.  By  transmitting  it  through  a 
series  of  rabbits/by  sub-dural  inoculation  of  each  rabbit 
with  a  minute  quantity  of  nerve-tissue  from  the  rabbit 
that  had  died  before  it,  he  was  able  to  intensify  the 
virus,  to  shorten  its  period  of  incubation,  to  fix  it  at 
six  days.  Thus  he  obtained  a  virus  of  exact  strength, 
a  definite  standard  of  virulence,  virus  fixe  :  the  next 
rabbit  inoculated  would*  have  the  disease  in  six  days, 
neither  more  nor  less. 

As  he  was  able  to  intensify  the  virus  by  transmis- 
sion, so  he  was  able  to  attenuate  it  by  gradual  drying 
of  the  tissues  that  contained  it.  The  spinal  cord,  taken 
from  a  rabbit  that  has  died  of  rabies,  slowly  loses 
virulence  b}-  simple  drying.  A  cord  dried  for  four  days 
is  less  virulent  than  one  that  has  been  dried  for  three, 
and  more  virulent  than  one  dried  for  five.  A  cord  dried 
for  a  fortnight  has  lost  all  virulence  :  even  a  large  dose 
of  it  will  not  produce  the  disease.  B3'  this  method 
of  drying,  Pasteur  was  enabled  to  obtain  the  virus  in 
all  degrees  of  activity :  he  could  alwa3''s  keep  going 
one  or  more  series  of  cords,  of  known  and  exactly 
graduated  strengths,  according  to  the  length  of  time 
they  had  been  dried — ranging  from  absolute  non- 
virulence   through   every  shade   of  virulence. 

And,  as  with  fowl-cholera  and  anthrax,  so  with 
rabies  ;  a  virus  which  has  been  attenuated  till  it  has 
been  rendered  innocuous,  can  yet  confer  immunity 
against  its  more  virulent  forms  :  just  as  vaccination  can 
protect  against  small-pox.  A  man,  bitten  by  a  rabid 
animal,  has  at  least  some  weeks  of  respite  before  the 
disease  can  break  out  ;  and,  during  that  time  of  respite, 
he  can   be  immunised  against   the   disease,  while   it   is 


140 


EXPERIMENTvS   ON    ANIMALS 


still  dormant  :  he  begins  with  a  dose  of  virus  attenuated 
past  all  power  of  doing  harm,  and  advances  day  by  day 
to  more  active  doses,  guarded  each  day  by  the  dose  of 
the  day  before,  till  he  has  manufactured  within  himself 
enough  antitoxin  to  make  him  proof  against  any  out- 
break of  the  disease. 

The  cords  used  for  treatment  are  removed  from  the 
bodies  of  the  rabbits,  by  an  aseptic  method,  and  are  cut 
into  lengths  and  hung  in  glass  jars,  with  some  chloride 
of  calcium  in  them,  for  drying.  The  jars  are  dated, 
and  then  kept  in  glass  cases  in  a  dark  room  at  a 
constant  temperature.  To  make  sure  that  the  cords 
are  aseptic,  a  small  portion  of  each  cord  is  sown  on 
nutrient  jelly  in  a  test-tube,  and  watched,  to  see  that  no 
bacteria  occur  in  the  tube.  For  each  injection,  a 
certain  small  quantity  of  cord  is  rubbed-up  in  sterilised 
fluid  ;  and  these  subcutaneous  injections  give  no  pain 
or  malaise  worth  considering. 

Of  course,  the  treatment  is  adjusted  to  the  gravity  of 
the  case.  A  bite  through  naked  skin  is  more  grave 
than  a  bite  through  clothing ;  and  bites  on  the  head  or 
face,  and  wolf-bites,  are  worst  of  all.  The  number  and 
character  of  the  scars  are  also  taken  into  account.  An 
excellent  description  of  the  treatment,  by  a  patient,  was 
published  in  the  Birminghatn  Medical  Review  of  January 
1898.      It  gives  the  following  tables  of  treatment  : — 

I.   Ordi7iary  Tj'eatmcnt. 


Day  of 

Days  of  Drying 

Day  of 

Days  of  Drying 

Treatment.                                 of  Cord. 

Treatment. 

of  Cord. 

I          ...     14  and  13 

9 

{^  dose)         3 

2 

12  and  II 

10 

(full  dose)         5 

3 

10  and    9 

II 

5 

4 

8  and    7 

12 

4 

5 

6 

13 

4 

6 

6 

14 

(i  dose)         3 

7 

5 

15 

(full  dose)         3 

8 

4 

RABIES 


141 


2.  Cases  of  Moderate  Gravity. 
Same  treatment,  up  to  13th  day. 


Day  of 
Treatment. 

Days  of  Drying 
of  Cord. 

1  'ay  of 
Treatment. 

Da} 

)•%  of  Drying 
of  Cord. 

14 

16 

3 

5 
4 

•7 
18 

(.1  dose) 
(full  dose) 

3 
3 

3.  Grave  Cases. 

Same  treatment 

up  to  loth 

day. 

Day  of 

Treatment. 

Days  of  Drying 
of  Cord. 

Day  of 
Treatment. 

Daj 

•s  of  Dr^'ing 
of  Cord. 

II 
12 

4 

17 
18 

(.1  dose) 
(full  dose) 

3 

13 

5 

19 

. 

5 

14 

5 

20 

. 

3 

15 
16 

4 
4 

21 
22 

• 

4 
3 

4.    Very  Grave  Cases. 
Same  treatment  as  3,  and  in  addition. 


Day  of 

Days  of  Drying 

Day  of 

Days  of  Drying 

Treatment. 

of  Cord. 

Treatment. 

of  Cord. 

23 

5 

25 

{\  dose)          3 

24 

4 

26 

(full  dose)         3 

Furious  criticism,  unbelief,  and  flagrant  misstatement 
of  facts  began  at  once,  and  lasted  more  than  two  years. 
Of  Pasteur's  opponents,  the  chief  was  M.  Peter,  who 
besought  the  Academic  des  Sciences,  about  once  a  week, 
that  they  should  close  Pasteur's  laboratory,  because  he 
was  not  preventing  hydrophobia  but  producing  it.  The 
value  of  M.  Peter's  judgment  may  be  estimated  b^^  what 
he  had  said,  a  few  3'ears  earlier,  about  bacteriology  in 
general — "  I  do  not  much  believe  in  that  invasion  of 
parasites  which  threatens  us  like  an  eleventh  plague  of 
EgyP^'  After  so  many  laborious  researches,  nothing 
will  be  changed  in  medicine,  there  will  only  be  a  few 
more   microbes.       M.   Pasteur's  excuse  is  that  he   is  a 


142  EXPERIMENTS   ON   ANIMALS 

chemist,  who  has  tried,  out  of  a  wish  to  be  useful,  to 
reform  medicine,  to  which  he  is  a  complete  stranger." 

But  it  does  not  matter  what  was  said  twenty  years 
ago.  In  England,  the  Report  of  the  iS  86  Committee, 
and  the  Mansion  House  meeting  in  July  1889,  mark 
the  decline  and  fall  of  all  intelligent  opposition  to  the 
work.  Among  so  many  thousand  cases,  during  so 
many  years,  it  would  be  a  miracle  indeed  if  not  a  single 
case  had  failed  or  gone  amiss  ;  but  we  are  concerned 
here  with  the  thousands.  Take,  to  begin  with,  four 
reports  from  Athens,  Palermo,  Rio,  and  Paris.  It  is  to 
be  noted  that  the  patients,  alike  at  Paris  and  at  other 
Institutes,  are  divided  into  three  classes  : — 

"  A.  Bitten  by  animals  proved  to  have  been  rabid  by 
the  development  of  rabies  in  other  animals  inoculated 
from  them. 

''  B.  Bitten  by  animals  proved  to  have  been  rabid  by 
dissection  of  their  bodies  by  veterinary  surgeons. 

^'  C.  Bitten  by  animals  suspected  to  have  been  rabid." 

It  is  to  be  noted  also,  as  a  fact  proved  beyond  doubt, 
that  the  full  benefit  of  the  treatment  is  not  obtained  at 
once  ;  the  highest  degree  of  immunity  is  reached  about 
a  fortnight  after  the  discontinuance  of  the  treatment. 
Those  few  cases,  therefore,  where  hydrophobia  has 
occurred,  not  only  in  spite  of  treatment,  but  within  a 
fortnight  of  the  last  day  of  treatment,  are  counted  as 
cases  where  the  treatment  came  too  late. 

Finall}',  what  was  the  risk  from  the  bite  of  a  rabid 
animal,  in  the  da3^s  before  1885  ?  It  is  a  matter  of 
guess-work.  One  writer,  and  one  only,  guessed  it  at 
5  per  cent.  ;  another  guessed  it  at  55,  and  a  third  came 
to  the  safe  conclusion  that  it  was  "  somewhere  between 
these    limits."       Leblanc,    who    is    probably    the    best 


RABIES  143 

guide,  put  it  at  16  ;  and  Pasteur  himself  put  it  between 
15  and  20.  But  suppose  it  were  only  10  ;  that, 
before  Pasteur,  out  of  every  100  men  bitten  by 
rabid  animals,  90  would  escape  and  only  10  would 
die  of  h3'drophobia ;  then  take  this  fact,  that  in  one 
year,  at  one  Institute  alone,  there  were  142  patients  in 
class  A,  bitten  by  animals  that  were  proved,  by  the 
unanswerable  test  of  inoculation,  to  have  been  rabid  ; 
and  I  death.  And  every  year  the  same  thing  ;  and  in 
all  the  twelve  years  together,  2872  such  cases  (A)  and 
20  deaths — a  mortality  not  of  10  per  cent.,  but  of  less 
than  I  per  cent. 

I.  Athefis 

The  Annales  de  VInstitut  Pasteur,  June  1898,  contain 
Dr.  Pampoukis'  report  of  three  years'  work  at  the 
Hellenic  Institute,  from  August  1894  to  December 
1897.  During  this  period  797  cases  were  treated — 
590  male  and  207  female.  The  animals  that  bit  them 
were — dogs,  732  ;  cats,  34  ;  wolf,  i  ;  other  animals, 
1 3  ;  and  the  1 7  other  patients  had  been  exposed  to 
infection  from  the  saliva  of  h3^drophobic  patients.  Of 
the  797  cases,  245  were  of  class  A,   112  B,  and  440  C. 

**  Among  the  797  persons  treated,  there  are  2 
deaths,  one  in  class  B  and  the  other  in  class  C.  Thus 
the  mortality  has  been  0.25  per  cent.  Besides  these  2 
w^ho  died  of  rabies  there  are  5  more,  in  whom  the  first 
signs  of  rabies  showed  themselves  in  less  than  fifteen 
days  after  the  last  inoculation. 

"  Finally,  beside  these  797  cases,  there  is  i  other 
case,  bitten  by  a  wolf,  in  which  the  treatment  failed. 
If  we  reckon  this  last  case  in  the  statistics  of  mortality, 
we  have  3  deaths  in  798  cases  =  0.37  per  cent. 

"  Beside   these    798    cases    treated   at   the    Institute, 


144  EXPERIMENTS   ON   ANIMALS 

there  have  been  others  that  have  not  undergone  the 
antirabic  treatment,  having  trusted  the  assurances  of 
those  who  are  called  in  Greece  empirics.  Among 
these  non-treated  cases  there  are  40  who  have  died  of 
rabies." 

2 .   Palermo 

The  A 1  males  for  April  1896  give  the  report  by 
Dr.  de  Blasi  and  Dr.  Russo-Travali  of  the  work  of  the 
Municipal  Institute  at  Palermo  during  8 J  years,  from 
March  1887  to  December  1895.  The  number  of  cases 
was  2221  ;  in  1240  (class  A),  the  animals  were  proved 
to  have  been  rabid  by  the  result  of  inoculations;  in  981, 
there  was  reason  to  suspect  rabies. 

"  Setting  aside  5  patients  who  died  during  the  course 
of  the  treatment,  and  5  others  who  died  less  than 
fifteen  days  after  the  end  of  the  treatment,  we  have  had 
to  deplore  only  9  failures  =  0.4  per  cent.  Even  if 
we  count  against  ourselves  the  10  other  cases,  the 
mortality  is  still  only  0.85." 

3.  Rio  de  Janeiro 

The  Annales  for  August  1898  give  Dr.  Ferreira's 
report  of  ten  years'  work  (February  1888  to  April 
1898)  at  the  Pasteur  Institute  at  Rio.  The  number  of 
cases  treated  was  2647,  of  whom  1987  were  male  and 
660  female.  Beside  these  2647  there  were  1234  who 
were  not  treated,  because  it  was  ascertained  that  they 
were  in  no  danger  of  rabies  ;  3  who  were  brought  to 
the  Institute,  already  suffering  from  the  disease  ;  and 
59  who  refused  treatment. 

Of  the  2647  persons  treated,  10  had  pricked  their 
hands  at  work  in  the  laboratory,  3  had  exposed  chance 
scratches  on  their  hands  to  the  sahva  of  rabid  animals, 


RABIES  145 

and  I  had  been  bitten  by  a  rabid  patient.  Of  the  rest, 
1886  had  been  bitten  on  the  bare  skin,  and  747 
through  clothing. 

In  236  cases  tlie  rabies  of  the  animal  had  been 
proved  by  inoculation.  In  I  173  it  had  been  recognised 
by  the  signs  of  the  disease.  In  1238  there  was  good 
reason  to  suspect  that  the  animal  had  been  rabid. 

Of  the  2647  patients,  in  30  cases  the  treatment  was 
stopped,  because  the  animals  were  at  last  traced,  after 
treatment  was  begun,  and  were  found  not  to  be  rabid. 
In  65  cases  the  patients,  after  treatment  was  begun, 
refused  to  go  on  with  it,  and  3  of  them  died  of  rabies. 
In  6  cases  rabies  developed  during  treatment  ;  5  of 
them  had  been  very  badly  bitten  about  the  head,  and  i 
did  not  come  for  treatment  till  the  twenty-first  day 
after  the  bite,  and  was  attacked  by  rabies  two  days 
later.  And  5  cases  died  of  other  maladies  that  had 
nothing  to  do  with  rabies.  Setting  aside  these  106 
cases,  there  remain  2541  cases,  with  20  deaths  =  0.78 
per  cent.  But,  of  these  20  deaths,  9  occurred  within 
fifteen  days  of  the  end  of  treatment,  before  protection 
was  full}'  established.  If  these  9  deaths  be  excluded, 
the  figures  stand  at  2532  cases,  with  11  deaths  =  0.43 
per  cent. 

4.   Paris 

Dr.  Pottevin's  report  on  the  work  of  the  Pasteur 
Institute  (Paris)  during  1897  {Annaies,  April  1898) 
must  be  given  word  for  word,  without  abbreviation. 

I 

During  1897,  1521  patients  received  the  anti- 
treatment   at   the   Pasteur  Institute  :     8   died   of  rabies. 

K 


146  EXPERIMENTS   ON   ANIMALS 

The  notes  of  their  cases  will  be  found  at  the  end  of  this 
paper. 

If  we  exclude  2  of  these  8  cases — the  cases  of 
Heniquet  and  Morin,  where  death  occurred  before  it 
was  possible  for  the  vaccinations  to  produce  their  effect 
— the  results  of  the  vaccinations  in  1897  are 


Patients  treated 

Deaths 

Mortality  per  cent. 


1519 
6 


0.39 


In   the   following    table    these    figures    are    compared 
with  those  of  preceding  years  : — 


Year. 

Patients 

treated. 

Deaths. 

Mortality 
per  cent. 

1886 

2671 

25 

0.94 

1887 

1770 

14 

0.79 

1888 

1622 

9 

0.55 

1889 

1830 

7 

0.38 

1890 

1540 

5 

0.32 

189I 

1559 

4 

0.25 

1S92 

1790 

4 

0.22 

1893 

1648 

6 

0.36 

1894 

1387 

7 

0.50 

1895 

1520 

5 

0.33 

1896 

1308 

4 

0.30 

1897 

I52I 

6 

0.39 

II 

Patients  treated  at  the  Pasteur  Institute  are  divided 
into  three  classes,  as  follows  : — 

A.  The  rabies  of  the  animal  was  proved  b}'  experi- 
ment, by  the  development  of  rabies  in  animals  inoculated 
with  its  bulb  (the  upper  end  of  the  spinal  cord).^ 

^  It  is  satisfactory  to  know  that  rabbits  affected  with  rabies  do 
not  suffer  in  the  same  way  as  dogs  and  sonie  other  animals,  but 
become  subject  to  a  painless  kind  of  paralysis. 


RABIES 


H7 


B.  The  rabies  of  the  animal  was  proved  by  veterinary 
examination  (dissection  of  its  body). 

C.  The  animal  was  suspected  of  rabies. 

We  give  here   the   patients   treated   in    1897,   under 
these  three  classes  : — 


Rites  of  thh 
Hkau. 

P.r 

pks  on  the 
1  Iands. 

Bites  f»F  tiik 

LiMIiS. 

Total, 

tn 

c 

« 

Oh 

in 

M 

u 

Q 

>>  . 

rt  4) 

<^  0. 

u5 

C 

a, 

81 

539 
244 

Q 

in 

Q 

Mortality 
per  cent. 

o5 
c 
.V. 

m 
'A 

Q 

S  0 

S  0. 

A 
B 
C 

15 
106 

30 

0 
0 
0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

4 
0 

0 

0.74 

0 

46 

273 
187 

506 

I 
I 
0 

2 

2.  I 

0.4 
0 

142 
918 
461 

I 

0.7 

0.65 
0 

151 

0 

0 

Sr.4 

4 

0.46 

0.4 

152I 

6 

0-39 

The  following  tables,  giving  the  results  obtained 
since  the  vaccinations  were  first  used,  show  that  the 
gravity  of  the  bites  varies  with  their  position  on  the 
body,  and  that  the  mortality  is  always  below  i  per 
cent,  among  patients  bitten  by  dogs  undoubtedly 
rabid  : — 


u5 

c 

Ph 

Mortality. 

A 
B 
C 

C 

(3 
0 

Q 

0 

0.69 
0.48 
0.31 

0.46 

Bites  of  the  Head 
Bites  of  the  Hands     . 
Bites  of  the  Limbs      . 

1759 

I  1. 118 

7,289 

21 

53 
22 

I.I 

0.47 
0.30 

2,872 

12,547 
4.747 

20 
61 

15 
96 

20,166 

96 

0.46 

20,166 

148  EXPERIMENTS   ON    ANIMALS 

III 

In  regard  to  their  nationality,  the  1 5  2 1  patients 
treated  at  the  Pasteur  Institute  in  1897  were  as 
follows  : — 


Germany   . 

.         8 

United  States     . 

I 

England    . 

•       83 

Greece 

I 

Belgium     . 

14 

India 

•       33 

Egypt 

2 

Switzerland 

•       33 

That  is,   175  foreigners  and  1346  French. 


IV 

Notes  of  the  eight  cases  where  the  treatment 
failed  : — 

1.  Camille  Bourg,  26.  Bitten  I  ith  April ;  treated  at  the 
Pasteur  Institute,  13th  to  30th  April ;  died  of  rabies  at  the 
Lariboisiere  Hospital,  26th  May.  Six  penetrating  bites 
on  the  ball  of  the  left  thumb.  The  dog  was  examined 
by  M.  Grenot,  a  veterinary  surgeon  at  Paris,  and  the 
dissection  gave  evidence  of  rabies.  Another  person 
bitten  and  treated  at  the  same  time  as  Bourg  is  now 
in  good  health. 

2.  Louis  Piquet,  23.  Bitten  22nd  April;  treated  at 
the  Pasteur  Institute,  23rd  April  to  loth  May;  died  of 
rabies  at  the  Necker  Hospital,  4th  June.  Five  bites, 
two  of  them  deep,  round  the  right  thumb.  They  had 
been  cauterised  five  hours  after  infliction.  The  dog 
was  examined  by  M.  Causse,  a  veterinary  surgeon  at 
Boulogne,  and  the  dissection  gave  evidence  of  rabies. 
Another  person  bitten  at  the  same  time  as  Piquet  is  now 
in  good  health. 

3.  Annette  Beaufort,  19.  Licked  on  the  hands,  which 
were  chapped,  on  15th  April.  The  dog  was  killed  next 
day,  examined,  and  declared  to  have  been  rabid  by 
M.  Lachmann,  a  veterinary  surgeon  at  Saint-Etienne. 
Treated  at  the  Pasteur  Institute,  20th  April  to  7th  May. 


RABIES  149 

Died  of  rabies  I4tli  October.  Two  other  persons  bitten 
by  the  same  dog  and  treated  at  the  Pasteur  Institute  are 
now  in  good  heaitli. 

4.  Juhen  Ileniquct,  53.  Bitten  iith  March,  by  a  dog 
that  M.  Jenvresse,  veterinary  surgeon  at  Beauniont-sur- 
Oise,  declared  after  dissection  to  have  been  rabid.  One 
bite  had  torn  the  lower  lip,  the  wound  had  been  sutured; 
three  other  wounds  on  the  nose.  The  w^ounds  had  not 
been  cauterised.  Treated  at  the  Pasteur  Institute,  18th 
May  to  5tli  June.  First  symptoms  of  rabies  showed 
themselves  4th  June,  before  the  treatment  was  finished; 
died  7th  June.  As  the  disease  had  its  onset  during  the 
course  of  the  inoculations,  this  case  should  be  excluded 
from  the  number  of  those  who  died  of  rabies  after  treat- 
ment. 

5.  Germain  Segond,  7.  Penetrating  bite  on  the  bare 
right  fore-arm,  23rd  May.  Cauterised  an  hour  later 
with  a  red-hot  iron.  Treated  26th  May  to  9th  June ; 
died  of  rabies  22nd  July.  The  dog's  bulb  had  been  sent 
to  the  Pasteur  Institute.  A  guinea-pig  inoculated  in  the 
eye  26th  May  was  seized  with  rabies  lOth  September. 

6.  Suzanne  Richard,  8.  Bitten  12th  June  on  the  left 
leg  by  a  dog,  found  on  dissection  to  have  been  rabid 
by  M.  Touret,  veterinary  surgeon  at  Sannois.  The  bite, 
penetrating  3  cm.  long,  had  been  sutured  ;  it  had  been 
made  through  a  cotton  stocking,  and  had  been  cauterised 
in  half-an-hour.  Treated  13th  to  30th  June;  died  of 
rabies  2nd  August.  (Notes  from  M.  le  Dr.  Margny,  at 
Sannois.) 

7.  Joseph  Vaudale,  33.  Bitten  on  the  left  hand,  8th 
August.  Six  penetrating  bites  on  the  back  of  the  hand; 
had  not  been  cauterised.  The  dog  was  declared  rabid  by 
M.  Verraert,  veterinary  surgeon  at  Ostend.  Treated  at 
the  Pasteur  Institute,  nth  to  28th  August;  died  of  rabies 
27th  September. 

8.  Paul  Morin,  38.  Bitten  24th  August  on  the  left 
cheek,  a  single  bite,  2  cm.  long;  no  cauterisation.  The 
dog  was  sent  to  the  Alfort  School,  25th  August,  and 
found    to   be  rabid.     Treated   at   the    Pasteur    Institute, 


150 


EXPERIMENTS   ON    ANIMALS 


26th  August  to  15th  September.  Died  of  rabies  some 
days  after  the  end  of  treatment  (three  weeks  after  the 
bite,  says  a  note  sent  to  us).  The  interval  between  the 
end  of  the  treatment  and  the  onset  of  the  disease  being 
less  than  fourteen  days,  Morin  must  not  be  counted  in 
the  number  of  patients  inoculated  under  conditions  which 
permit  successful  inoculation. 


We  hardly   need   follow    the  work  of  the  remaining 
years.      The  figures  are  as  follows  : — 


Year. 

Patients 
treated. 

Deaths. 

Mortality 
per  cent. 

1898 

1465 

3 

0.2 

1899 

1614 

4 

0.25 

1900 

1420 

4 

0.28 

1901 

I318 

5 

0.38 

1902 

1 105 

2 

0.18 

1903 

628 

2 

0.32 

1904 

755 

3 

0.39 

The  falling  off  in  the  number  of  patients  at  the  Paris 
Institute  is  related  to  the  establishment  of  similar  Insti- 
tutes at  Lyon,  Marseilles,  Bordeaux,  Lille,  and  Mont- 
pellier.  But  is  it  not  possible  that  a  patient,  after  treat- 
ment at  the  Paris  Institute,  should  die  at  home  of  rabies, 
and  his  death  not  be  notified  to  the  Institute  ?  The 
answer  is,  that  the  Institute  is  very  careful,  so  far  as 
possible,  to  keep  in  touch  with  its  old  patients.  For 
instance,  in  1903,  it  recorded  the  case  of  a  carpenter 
in  a  Welsh  village,  who  had  died  of  rabies  nearly 
two  years  after  treatment.  And,  of  course,  an  Institute 
patient,  wherever  he  was,  would  be  of  interest  to  his 
neighbours:  and  a  death  from  rabies  would  excite  atten- 
tion, and  would  hardly  fail  to  be  reported. 


RABIES  151 

It  is  not  impossible  that  some  sort  ul"  intensive 
modification  of  Pasteur's  treatment  may  be  found,  not 
for  the  prevention,  but  for  the  cure  of  hydrophobia  ; 
and  two  successful  cases  of  this  kind  have  been  re- 
ported in  the  Annales  of  the  Paris  Institute.  Apart 
from  this  faint  hope,  the  cure  of  hydrophobia  is  where 
it  was  in  the  days  of  the  "  Tonquin  medicine  "  and  the 
"  Tanjore  pills." 


VII 

CHOLERA 

The  study  of  cholera  was  the  hardest  of  all  the  hard 
labours  of  bacteriology  ;  it  took  3'ears  of  work  in  all 
parts  of  the  world,  and  the  difficulty  and  disappoint- 
ments over  it  are  past  all  telling.  Koch's  discovery  of 
the  comma-bacillus  (1883)  raised  a  thousand  questions 
that  were  solved  only  by  infinite  patience,  international 
unit}'  for  science,  and  incessant  research  ;  and  the 
Hamburg  epidemic  (1892)  marks  the  time  when  the 
comma-bacillus  was  at  last  recognised  as  the  cause  of 
cholera.  A  mere  list  of  the  men  who  did  the  work 
would  fill  page  after  page  ;  it  was  bacteriology  in 
excelsisj  often  dangerous,^  and  always  laborious. 

There  is  the  same  heroic  note  in  the  story  of  the 
preventive  treatment  of  cholera  by  Haffkine's  method  ; 
one  of  the  men  in  whom  Pasteur  seems  to  live  again. 
He  began   in   18S9,  under  Pasteur's   guidance,  to  study 

^  "  In  order  to  prove  that  this  vibrio  is  the  cause  of  Asiatic 
cholera,  several  tests  upon  themselves  have  been  voluntarily  made 
by  investigators  in  laboratories.  These  were  carried  out  in  Munich 
and  in  Pans.  The  results  to  the  experimenters  were  sufficiently 
severe  to  indicate  positively  the  pathogenic  character  of  the  spi- 
rillum, and  its  capacity  to  produce  cholera-like  infections.  Such 
experimentation  is,  of  course,  to  be  deprecated  ;  indeed,  the 
occurrence  of  accidental  laborator>'  infections,  one  of  which 
ended  fatally,  furnished  the  necessary  final  proof  of  the  specificity 
of  the  cholera  vibrio,  and  rendered  unnecessar)'  any  exposure  to 
the  risks  belonging  to  voluntary  inoculation.'"  (Dr.  Flexner,  Sted- 
man's  fiventieth  Century  Practice^  vol.  xix.,  1900.) 

152 


cholp:ka  153 

the  immunisation  of  animals  against  the  cholera-  bacillus. 
Other  men,  of  course,  were  wtirking  on  the  same  lines 
— Pfeiftcr,  Brieger,  Metchnikoff,  Fischer,  Gamaleia, 
Klein,  Wassermann,  and  many  more — and  by  1892 
the  immunisation  of  animals  was  proved  up  to  the  hilt. 
Then  came  the  advance  from  animals  to  men,  from 
laboratories  to  Indian  cities,  villages,  and  canton- 
ments ;  and  here  the  honour  is  Haffkine's,  and  his 
alone.  Ferran's  inoculations  (Spain,  1885)  had  failed. 
Haffkinc,  having  tested  his  method  on  himself  and  his 
friends,  went  to  India,  with  a  commendatory  letter 
from   the   British   Government  : — 

"  Researches  on  cholera,  with  special  reference  to  ino- 
culation, were  undertaken  and  carried  on  in  my  labo- 
ratory, in  the  Pasteur  Institute  in  Paris,  between  1889 
and  1893.  The  experiments  resulted  in  the  elaboration 
of  the  present  method,  which  when  tried  on  animals  was 
found  to  render  them  resistant  against  every  form  of 
cholera-poisoning  otherwise  fatal  to  them. 

"  The  physiological  and  pathological  effect  on  man  was 
then  studied  on  some  sixty  persons,  mostly  medical  and 
scientific  men  interested  in  the  solution  of  the  problem. 
The  effect  was  found  to  be  harmless  to  health.  The 
next  step  was  to  transfer  the  operations  to  the  East." 
(Haffkine's  Report  to  the  Government  of  India y  1895.) 

He  reached  Calcutta  in  March  1893,  and  at  the 
request  of  Mr.  Hankin  ^  was  invited  to  Agra  ;  here,  in 
April,  he  vaccinated  over  900  persons,  including  many 
English  officers.  From  Agra  to  Aligarh ;  and  from 
Aligarh   he   was   asked    to    more    places   than   he   could 

'  Mr.  Hankin,  whose  name  is  had  in  remembrance  by  Cam- 
bridge men,  is  Chemical  Examiner  and  Bacteriologist  to  the 
North-West  Provinces  and  Oudh,  and  to  the  Central  Provinces. 


154  EXPERIMENTS   ON    ANIMALS 

visit.      In  1895  his  health  failed,  and  no  wonder;   and 
he  came  back  to  Europe  for  a  short  time  : — 

"  My  actual  work  in  India  lasted  twenty-nine  months, 
between  the  beginning  of  April  1893  and  the  end  of  July 
1895.  During  this  period  the  anti-cholera  vaccination 
has  been  applied  to  294  British  officers,  3206  British 
soldiers,  6629  native  soldiers,  869  civil  Europeans,  125 
Eurasians,  and  31,056  natives  of  India.  The  inoculated 
people  belonged  to  98  localities  in  the  North  -  West 
Provinces  and  Oudh,  in  the  Punjab,  in  Lower  Bengal 
and  Behar,  in  the  Brahmaputra  Valley,  and  in  Lower 
Assam.  No  official  pressure  has  been  brought  on  the 
population,  and  onl}'  those  have  been  vaccinated  who 
could  be  induced  to  do  so  by  free  persuasion.  In  every 
locality,  efforts  were  made  to  apply  the  operation  on 
parts  of  large  bodies  of  people  living  togetr-.er  under 
identical  conditions,  in  order  to  compare  their  resist- 
ance in  outbreaks  of  cholera  with  that  of  non-inoculated 
people  belonging  to  the  same  unit  of  population.  This 
object  has  been  obtained  in  64  British  and  native  regi- 
ments, in  9  gaols,  in  45  tea-estates,  in  the  fixed  agri- 
cultural population  of  the  villages  parallel  to  Hardwar 
pilgrim  road,  in  the  bustees  of  Calcutta,  in  a  certain 
number  of  boarding-schools,  where  the  parents  agreed 
to  the  inoculation  of  their  children,  in  orphanages,  etc. 
The  vast  majority  of  inoculated  people  lived  thus  under 
direct  observation  of  the  sanitary  and  medical  authori- 
ties of  India."  (Haffkine,  Lecture  in  London.  British 
Medical  Journal^  21st  Dec.  1895.) 

Altogether,  upwards  of  70,000  injections  on  42,179 
people — without  having  to  record  a  single  instance  of 
mishap  or  accident  of  any  description  produced  by  our 
vaccines.  Consider  the  colossal  difficulties  of  this  new 
treatment  :  the  frequent  running  short  of  the  vaccine, 
preventing  a  second  injection  ;  the  absolute  necessity, 
at  first,  of  using  very   small  doses  of  a  weak  vaccine, 


CHOLERA  155 

lest  one  disaster  should  occur ;  the  ini})ossibility  of 
avoiding,  now  and  again,  some  loss  of  strength  in  the 
vaccine  ;  the  impossibility  of  knowing  how  long  the 
protection  would  last.  Surely  in  all  science  there  is 
nothing  to  beat  this  first  voyage  of  adventure  single- 
handed  to  fight  the  cholera  in  India. 

Later  than  Haffkine's  1895  report,  we  have  Dr. 
Simpson's  1896  report:  ^^  Tivo  Years  of  Anti-choleraic 
Inoculations  in  Calcutta^.  By  W.  J.  Simpson,  M.D., 
M.R.C.P.,  D.P.H.,  Health  Officer,  Calcutta."  The  date 
of  this  report  is  8th  July  1896  ;  and  it  gives  not  only 
the  Calcutta  results,  but  all  that  are  of  any  use  for 
exact  judgment :  ^ — 

^'The  results  of  Calcutta  are  fully  confirmed  by  those 
obtained  in  other  parts  of  India,  wherever  it  was  possible 
to  make  all  the  necessary  observations  with  precision, 
and  wherever  the  cases  were  sufficiently  numerous  to 
show  the  eff'ect  of  the  inoculation. 

"  Outside  Calcutta,  since  the  commencement  of  the 
inoculations  in  India  in  April  1893,  opportunities  for  an 
exact  comparison  of  the  respective  powers  of  resistance 
against  cliolera  of  inoculated  and  non-inoculated  persons 
presented  themselves;  (i)  in  Lucknow,  in  the  East 
Lancashire  Regiment;  (2)  in  Gaya,  in  the  jail;  (3)  in 
Cachar,  among  the  tea-garden  coolies  ;  (4)  in  Margherita, 
among  coolies  of  the  Assam-Burmah  Railway  Survey  ;  (5) 
in  Durbhanga,  in  the  jail ;  (6)  in  the  coolie  camp  at  Bila- 
spur;  (7)  in  Serampur,  among  the  general  population." 

Here,  then,  in  this  1896  report,  are  all  the  results 
that  give  an  answer  to  the  question,  What  will  happen 

^  For  a  summary  of  this  report,  see  the  Lancet^  8th  August 
1896.  For  more  recent  results,  see  Surgeon-Captain  Vaughan 
and  Assistant-Surgeon  Mukerji,  in  the  thirtieth  annual  report  of 
the  Sanitary  Commissioner  for  Bengal  (1897).  Also  the  note 
published  by  Surgeon-Captain  Nolt,  in  ihchidicifi  Medical  Gazette, 
May  1898. 


156  EXPERIMENTS   ON    ANIMALS 

when  cholera  breaks  out  among  a  number  of  people 
living  under  the  same  conditions,  of  whom  some  have 
received  preventive  treatment,  and  the  rest  have  been 
left  to  Nature  ? 


I.    Calcutta  (1894- 1  896) 

"  The  number  of  people  inoculated  during  the  period 
under  review  was  7690;  of  these,  5853  are  Hindus,  1476 
Mahomedans,  and  361  other  classes.  .  .  .  Considering 
that  the  system  is  a  new  one,  that  the  inoculations  are 
purely  voluntary,  and  everything  connected  with  them 
has  to  be  explained  before  the  confidence  of  the  people 
can  be  obtained,  and  considering  how  long  new  ideas  are 
in  taking  root  among  the  general  population — and  in  this 
case  it  is  not  merely  the  acceptance  of  an  idea,  but  such 
faith  in  it  as  to  consent  to  submit  to  an  operation — the 
number  is  certainly  satisfactory  for  a  beginning.  The 
present  problem  can  be  compared  with  the  introduction  of 
vaccination  against  small-pox  into  Calcutta.  It  took  25 
years  before  the  number  of  vaccinations  reached  an 
average  of  2000 ;  whereas  the  inoculations  against 
cholera  have  in  two  years  nearly  doubled  that  average. 
This  is  a  proof  that,  in  spite  of  the  difficulties  which 
every  new  movement  naturally  has  to  meet  with,  there 
are  large  numbers  of  people  anxious  to  avail  themselves 
of  the  protective  efi'ect  of  the  inoculations. 

''Although  all  sorts  and  conditions  of  individuals, 
weak  and  strong,  sickly  and  healthy,  3^oung  and  old,  well 
nourished  and  badly  nourished,  and  often  persons  suffer- 
ing from  chronic  diseases,  have  been  inoculated,  in  every 
instance,  without  exception,  the  inoculations  have  proved 
perfectly  harmless. 

"  The  investigations  on  the  effect  of  the  inoculation  are 
made  exclusively  in  those  houses  in  which  cholera  has 
actually  occurred,  the  object  being  to  ascertain  and 
compare  the  incidence  of  cholera  on  the  inoculated  and 
not   inoculated    in    those    houses   in   which    inoculations 


CHOLERA  157 

had  been  previously  carried  out.  For  this  purpose y 
affected  houses  iti  which  inoculations  have  not  been  pcr- 
formedf  and  inoculated  houses  in  which  cholera  has  not 
appear edy  are  excluded!' 

Nature  gave  a  demonstration  in  77  houses.  In  one 
house,  and  one  only,  all  the  household  had  been  inocu- 
lated ;  in  ^(y,  inoculated  and  non-inoculated  were  living 
together  ;  but  of  these  ^6  houses,  6  are  excluded  from 
the  table  of  results,  because  the  inoculated  in  them  were 
so  few — less  than  one-tenth  of  the  household — that 
their  escape  from  cholera  might  be  called  chance.  The 
cholera  came,  and  left  behind  it  this  fact  : — 

654  uninoculated  individuals  had  71  deaths 

=  10.86  per  cent. 
402  inoculated  in  the  same  households  had 

12  deaths  =  2.99  per  cent. 

If  we  add  the  6  houses  which  Dr.  Simpson  excludes, 
we  find  that  in  77  houses  there  were  89  deaths  from 
cholera,  J  J  being  among  the  uninoculated  and  12 
among  the  inoculated. 

Moreover,  of  these  1 2  deaths,  5  occurred  during 
the  first  five  days  after  inoculation — that  is  to  say, 
during  the  period  in  which  the  protective  influence  of 
the  vaccine  was  still  incomplete.  Then  came  a  period  of 
more  than  a  year,  during  which  the  uninocidated  had  42 
deaths,  and  the  inocidated  had  one  death.  The  remaining 
6  of  the  1 2  deaths  occurred  more  than  a  year  after 
inoculation,  and  5  of  these  6  had  received  only  one 
inoculation  of  the  weak  vaccine  that  was  used  early  in 
1894. 

Take  a  good  instance  that  came  at  the  very  begin- 
ning of  the  work  : — 

*'  A  local  epidemic   took   place   around    two   tanks   in 


158  EXPERIMENTS   ON    ANIMALS 

Kattal  Began  bustee^  ward  19,  occupied  by  about  200 
people.  In  this  bustee,  about  the  end  of  March,  2  fatal 
cases  of  cholera  and  2  cases  of  choleraic  diarrhoea 
occurred.  The  outbreak  led  to  the  inoculation  of  116 
persons  in  the  biistee  out  of  the  200.  Since  then,  9  cases 
of  cholera,  of  which  7  were  fatal,  and  I  case  of  choleraic 
diarrhoea  have  appeared  in  the  biistee,  and  it  is  a  very 
extraordinary  fact  that  all  these  10  cases  of  cholera  have 
occurred  exclusively  among  the  uninoculated  portion  of 
the  inhabitants,  v/hich,  as  stated,  forms  the  minority 
in  the  bustee ;  while  none  of  the  inoculated  have  been 
affected."  {Cholera  in  Calcutta  in  1894.  W.  J. 
Simpson.) 

2.  Liicknow  (1893) 

The  story  of  the  outbreak  of  cholera  in  the  East 
Lancashire  Regiment  must  be  read  carefully  : — 

"  Rumour  magnified  the  events  connected  with  this 
outbreak,  and  distorted  the  facts  connected  with  the 
inoculations ;  and  as  a  result,  the  current  of  public 
opinion,  which  had  previously  been  in  favour  of  inocula- 
tion, set  in  strongly  in  the  opposite  direction.  The 
advocates  of  anti-choleraic  inoculations  were  abused  in 
no  particularly  measured  terms,  and  the  inoculations 
were  held  up  to  be  the  source  of  every  possible  evil 
and  danger  ...  of  the  most  loathsome  diseases,  and  of 
every  ill  which  man  is  heir  to.  The  distrust  engendered 
by  these  misrepresentations  and  fulminations  was,  how- 
ever, only  of  a  temporary  nature  ;  and  when  the  exact 
circumstances  came  to  be  known  and  understood,  the 
confidence  created  by  the  Calcutta  experience  began  to  be 
considerably  restored.  Inoculations  were  performed  in 
May  1893,  in  the  East  Lancashire,  Royal  Irish,  i6th 
Lancers,  7th  Bengal  Infantry,  7th  Bengal  Cavalry,  and 
general  populations  in  the  Civil  Lines.  In  1894,  cholera 
appeared  among  the  native  population  of  Lucknow,  in  the 
form  of  an  epidemic  distinguished  by  its  extreme  viru- 


CHOLERA 


159 


lence,  patients  succunibinf:^  in  the  course  of  a  few  hours. 
It  is  stated  that  the  epidemic  was  of  a  most  mahgnant 
type.  In  the  latter  part  of  July  it  entered  the  can- 
tonments, and  attacked  the  East  Lancashire,  almost 
exclusively  confinin^::  its  ravages  to  that  regiment." 

In  the  East  Lancashire,  185  men  were  inoculated  in 
May  1893.  From  the  statistical  returns  obtained  from 
the  military  authorities  at  Lucknow,  it  appears  that  at 
the  time  of  the  outbreak,  in  July  1894,  the  strength  of 
the  men,  including  those  in  hospital,  was  773  ;  and 
of  these,  133  had  been  inoculated,  as  recorded  in  the 
inoculation  register,  and  640  had  not  been  inoculated. 

The  following  table  shows  the  total  number  of  attacks 
and  deaths  in  not  inoculated  and  inoculated  : — 


Attacks. 

Deaths. 

Non-inoculated,  640   . 
Inoculated,  133  . 

Per  cent. 
120  =   18.75 

Per  cent. 

79  =  12.34 
13=    9-7 

The  men  w^ere  moved  into  camp  ;  but  this  movement 
seemed  only  to  make  things  worse  :  "  the  epidemic  in 
the  camp  appears  to  have  been  twice  as  severe  as  in 
the  cantonment."  ^ 

Lucknow  came  so  early  in  the  work  of  inoculation, 
that  weak  vaccines  were  used  in  small  doses.  The 
cholera,  when  it  broke  out,  was  "  of  a  most  malignant 
type,  senior  medical  officers  of  long  experience  in  the 
country  stating  that  such  a  virulent  cholera  had  not 
been  seen  by  them  for  very  many  years   past."      More 

^  "  The  moving  into  camp,  notwithstanding  this  example,  is  all 
the  same  an  excellent  measure  of  defence,  and  would  with  reason 
be  adopted  in  ever)'  outbreak."     (Simpson,  loc.  cif.) 


i6o  EXPERIMENTS    ON    ANIMALS 

than  a  year  had  elapsed  between  the  inoculations  and 
the  outbreak  of  the  cholera.  It  is  no  wonder  that  the 
regiment  was  not  well  protected  : — 

"  The  small  amount  of  protection  which  the  inoculations 
afforded  in  this  case  may  have  depended  on  the  mild 
effects  which  the  injections  produced  on  the  men  at  the 
time  of  the  operation  in  1893,  in  comparison  with  the 
severity  of  the  epidemic  which  attacked  the  regiment.  It 
is  recorded  in  the  Lucknow  Inoculation  Registers  that 
only  in  two  men,  out  of  the  185  inoculated  in  1893,  a 
marked  febrile  reaction  was  obtained  ;  in  yy  individuals 
the  vaccinal  fever  was  onl}^  slight,  while  in  66  there  was 
no  reaction  :  an  effect  which  was  due  to  the  weakness  of 
the  vaccines  procurable  at  that  period  of  work,  and  to 
the  small  doses  used.  The  influence  of  the  vaccines  was 
possibly  further  reduced,  at  the  time  of  the  epidemic, 
iDy  a  lapse  of  fourteen  to  fifteen  months."  (Haffkine, 
1895   Report.) 


3 .   Gay  a  Jail 

On  9th  July  1894,  an  outbreak  of  cholera  occurred 
in  the  Gaya  jail,  and  by  i8th  June  there  had  been 
6  cases  and  5  deaths.  On  that  day  and  the  next  day, 
215  prisoners  were  inoculated.  The  average  number 
of  the  prisoners  during  the  outbreak  was  207  inoculated, 
and  202  not  inoculated.  Surgeon-Major  Macrae,  super- 
intendent of  the  jail,  reports  : — 

"  The  inoculations  being  purely  voluntary,  no  selection 
of  prisoners  was  possible,  but  all  classes  of  the  jail 
were  represented — male  and  female,  old  and  young, 
habituals  and  less  frequent  offenders,  strong  and  weakly, 
convalescent  and  even  hospital  patients  sent  their  repre- 
sentatives ;  no  difference  of  any  kind  was  made  be- 
tween inoculated  and   non-inoculated  ;   they   were   under 


CHOLERA 


i6i 


absolutely   identical    conditions  as    regards   food,    water, 
accommodation,  etc.,  in  fact  in  every  possible  respect." 

Of  course,  tlie  best  results  could  hardly  be  obtained, 
because  the  cholera  was  already  at  work  :  it  took  about 
ten  days  for  the  I  894  vaccine  to  produce  its  full  effect  ; 
and  two  inoculations  were  generally  made,  one  five  days 
after  the  other.  This  gradual  action  of  the  vaccine  is 
well  shown  in  Dr.  Simpson's  table : — 


During  5  days  after  isL 

inoculation 
During  3  days  after  2nd 

inoculation 
After  3  days  after  2nd 

inoculation 

Non-Inoculated, 
202. 

Inoculated, 
207. 

Cases. 

Deaths. 

Cases. 

Deaths. 

7 
5 

5 
3 

2 

5 
3 
0 

4 
I 
0 

Total 

20 

10 

8 

5 

Haffkine's  comment  on  these  figures  must  be  noted 
here  : — 

"  In  the  Gaya  jail,  the  inoculations  were  for  the  first 
time  applied  in  a  prevalent  epidemic,  and  very  weak  doses 
of  a  relatively  weak  vaccine  were  used.  .  .  .  Far  higher 
results  have  been  obtained  by  an  application  of  stronger 
doses.  In  the  bustees  situated  round  the  tanks  in  Cal- 
cutta, where  cholera  exists  in  a  permanent  state,  the 
disease  occurred  in  36  houses  with  inoculated  people. 
In  each  of  these  houses  there  wns  one  part  of  the  family 
inoculated  and  another  not.  The  observations  were 
continued  for  459  days,  with  the  following  results: — 

During  the  first  period  of  5  days,  subsequent  to  the 

L 


i62  EXPERIMENTS   ON    ANIMALS 

inoculation    with    first    vaccine,    cholera    occurred    in    8 
houses. 

75  non-inoculated  had  5  cases,  with  3  deaths. 
52  inoculated  had  3  cases,  with  3  deaths. 

During  the  second  period  of  5  days,  subsequent  to  the 
second  inoculation,  cholera  occurred  in  2  houses. 

8  non-inoculated  had  2  cases,  with  2  deaths. 
17  inoculated  had  no  cases. 

After  the  10  days  necessary  for  the  preventive  treatment 
had  expired^  and  up  to  the  \^()th  day^  the  disease  visited 
26  houses. 

263  non-inoculated  had  '^'^  cases ^  with  34  deaths. 
137  inoculated  had  i  case,  with  i  death,  in  a  child 

that  had  not  been   brought   up  for   the  second 

inoculation  y 

4.  Assam-Burmah  Railway 

For  a  good  instance  of  lives  saved  even  during  an 
outbreak,  take  the  Assam-Burmah  Railway  coolies  : — 

"  Three  hundred  and  fifty  1  Khassia  Hill  coolies  had 
been  collected  for  the  survey  party  of  the  Assam-Burmah 
Railway,  and  put  under  the  escort  of  a  detachment  of 
Goorkhas,  when  cholera  broke  out  amongst  them.  The 
largest  part  of  the  coolies  immediately  submitted  to  the 
preventive  inoculation,  the  rest  remained  uninoculated. 
The  result  was  that  among  the  not-inoculated  minority 
there  were  34  cases,  with  30  deaths ;  whe7-eas  the  inocu- 
lated had  4  fatal  cases''  (Haflfkine,  1895,  Lecture  in 
London.) 

5.   Durbhanga  Jail  (1896) 

The  figures  in  this  instance  are  small  :  but  Surgeon- 
Captain    E.    Harold    Brown's    report    is   very    pleasant 

^  The  exact  number  is  355,  of  whom  196  were  inoculated  ;  the 
coolies  numbered  343,  and  the  Goorkhas  12.  (See  Dr.  Simpson's 
1896  Report.) 


CHOLERA  163 

reading.  Cholera  broke  out  in  the  jail  on  31st  March 
1896,  and  by  9th  April  there  had  been  8  cases.  Next 
day,  172  prisoners  were  moved  into  camp  12  miles 
away  ;  and  5  3  were  left  behind,  the  sick  in  the  jail 
hospital,  the  patients  in  the  cholera  huts,  with  their 
attendants,  the  old  and  infirm,  and  a  few  cooks  and 
sweepers.  That  day,  3  cases  occurred  in  the  camp, 
and  I  in  the  jail;  and  on  the  iith,  at  2  and  4  a.m., 
2  more  cases  were  reported  in  camp.  At  7.30  a.m., 
Haffkine  and  Dr.  Green  came  to  the  camp : — 

"The  prisoners  were  spoken  to  on  the  subject,  and 
seemed  to  be  pleased  with  the  idea,  the  word  tika  (inocu- 
lation), which  was  familiar  to  them  from  its  association 
with  small-pox,  appearing  to  appeal  to  them.  They  were 
accordingly  arranged  in  four  rows  facing  the  tent,  in  front 
of  which  Dr.  Haffkine  was  about  to  commence  operations. 
I  was  the  first  subject  to  be  inoculated ;  and  after  me  the 
jailor,  assistant  jailor,  hospital  assistant,  and  three  warders. 
The  first  prisoner  in  the  front  rank  was  next  brought  up 
and  submitted  cheerfully ;  after  which,  every  alternate 
man  was  taken,  so  that  no  selection  of  cases  was  made, 
until  one-half  of  the  total  number  were  inoculated.  Those 
who  had  not  been  inoculated  were  far  from  pleased  at 
having  been  passed  over ;  and,  to  our  surprise,  they  rose 
almost  to  a  man,  and  begged  to  be  inoculated ;  nor 
were  they  satisfied  when  told  that  the  medicine  was 
exhausted." 

The  dose  administered  on  this  occasion  (iith  April 
1896)  was  stronger  than  the  Gaya  jail  dose  (iSth  July 
1894):  it  acted  in  a  few  hours,  and  the  reaction  was 
well  marked. 

''There  were  fresh  cases  of  cholera  that  day  at  12 
(noon),  6,  7,  and  7.30  P.M.,  and  at  midnight,  all  in 
those  who  had  not  been  inoculated,  and  all  terminating 


164  EXPERIMENTS    ON    ANIMALS 

fatally,  despite  the  greatest  care  and  the  most  prompt 
and  assiduous  treatment.  On  the  1 2th  two  further  cases 
occurred,  both  among  the  uninoculated,  and  both  died  ; 
there  being  thus  eight  cases  in  succession,  all  from  the 
men  who  were  not  inoculated,  and  all  proving  fatal." 

The  inoculations  were  made  at  7.30  a.m.  Surgeon- 
Captain  Brown  had  pain  within  half-an-hour,  and  fever 
in  three  hours,  with  temperature  104°,  but  this  was 
probably  due  to  the  fact  that  I  was  not  able  to  rest.  The 
prisoners,  of  course,  went  to  bed :  they  all  reacted 
before  4  p.m.,  but  did  not  have  so  much  trouble  over 
it.  The  last  case  was  on  the  15th.  The  outbreak 
was  a  bad  t3'pe  of  cholera  ;  out  of  30  cases  24  died, 
some  of  them  in  i^,  to  4  hours.  ''To  summarise  the 
combined  results  of  the  camp  and  the  jail,  we  find  that 
of  a  dail}'  average  of  99  non-inoculated  there  were  i  i 
cases,  all  fatal  =11.11  per  cent.  ;  of  1 1  o  inoculated  there 
were  5  cases,  with  3  deaths  =2.73  per  cent." 

6.   Bilaspur  and  Serampur 

Here  again  the  figures  are  small,  but  worth  noting. 
In  a  coolie  camp  at  Bilaspur  (Central  Provinces)  lOO 
non-inoculated  had  5  deaths,  and  150  inoculated  had 
I  death.  In  Serampur,  among  the  general  population, 
51  non-inoculated  had  5  cases  and  3  deaths,  and  42 
inoculated  had  2  cases  and   I  death. 


7.   The  Cachar  Tea-Gardens  (1895) 

This  series  of  inoculations  was  begun  in  February 
1895,  for  the  protection  of  the  coolies  on  various  tea- 
estates.     The  results  are  excellent,  and  deal  with  large 


CHOLERA  165 

numbers.^     The  latest  re{)ort  from  Dr.  Arthur  Powell, 
the  Medical  Officer,   is   quoted  in    Dr.   Simpson's  1896 
report : — 
Ai  Kalain  — 

1079  not  inoculated  had  50  cases,  with  30  deaths. 
1250  inoculated — 3  cases,  with  2  deaths.^ 
At  KalaincJurra — 

685  not  inoculated  had  10  cases,  with  7  deaths. 
155  inoculated* — no  cases. 

At  Degiibber — 

254  not  inoculated  had  12  cases,  with  10  deaths. 

407  inoculated — 5  cases,  all  recovered. 
At  Duna — 

121  not  inoculated  had  4  cases,  with  2  deaths. 
29  inoculated — no  cases. 
At  Saudiira— 

454  not  inoculated  had  2  cases,  with  i  death. 
51  inoculated — 2  cases,  with  i  death. 
At  Karkuri — 

198  not  inoculated  had  15  cases,  with  9  deaths. 

443  inoculated — 3  cases,  with  i  death. 
At  Craig  Park — 

185  not  inoculated  had  i  fatal  case. 
46  inoculated — no  cases. 

Total. 

Not  inoculated,  2976,  with  94  cases  and  60  deaths. 
Inoculated,  2381,  with  13  cases  and  4  deaths. 


*  "As  a  field  for  testing  the  value  of  inoculation,  the  tea- 
factories  of  India  possess  many  advantages.  The  labourers  being 
under  contract,  the  after-histor\'  of  those  inoculated  is  easily  fol- 
lowed up.  Each  morning  the  adults  are  paraded  for  roll-call ; 
and  all  sick  must  attend  hospital,  where  a  record  is  made  of  their 
disease  and  treatment."     (Dr.  Powell,  Lancet^  13th  July  1896.) 

■^  "It  is  unfortunate  that  neither  of  the  fatal  cases  among  the 
inoculated  was  seen  by  any  medical  man,  not  even  an  unqualified 
doctor  Babu."  Dr.  Powell  does  not  think,  from  what  was  told 
him,  that  one  of  them  was  cholera. 


i66  EXPERIMENTS    ON    ANIMALS 

To  the  preceding  instances,  which  are  rather  old 
now,  must  be  added  the  following  more  recent  report, 
from  the  Indian  Medical  Gazette,  September  1901  : — 

''  We  are  glad  to  see,  from  a  paragraph  in  the  Report 
of  the  Sanitary  Commissioner  for  Bengal  (Major  H.  J. 
Dyson,  I. M.S.,  F.R.C.S.),  that  an  increased  number  of 
anti-cholera  inoculations  were  performed  during  the  year 
1900.  Assistant-Surgeon  G.  C.  Mukerjee,  who  was  in 
charge  of  this  work,  reports  that  in  the  Puralia  Coolie 
Depot  no  less  than  13,291  persons  were  inoculated 
against  cholera,  including  over  lOOO  children.  All  these 
cases  of  inoculation  were  among  labour  emigrants  pro- 
ceeding to  the  tea-gardens  of  Assam  and  Cachar.  The 
employers  of  labour  are  beginning  to  realise  the  value 
of  cholera  inoculation.  It  is  unfortunatel}^  not  always 
easy,  or  even  possible,  to  follow  up  the  after-history  of 
persons  inoculated ;  but  Major  Dyson  has  quoted  a  table, 
received  from  the  Superintendent  of  Emigration,  which 
shows  the  number  of  cases  among  the  inoculated  and  the 
non-inoculated  at  Goalundo.  From  this  table,  it  is  seen 
that  out  of  1527  non-inoculated  coolies,  who  passed 
through  Goalundo,  33,  or  2.09  per  cent.,  got  cholera; 
whereas  of  873  inoculated  coolies,  only  2,  or  0.2  per 
cent.,  were  attacked  by  the  disease;  that  is,  the  unpro- 
tected suffered  about  ten  times  as  much  as  the  inoculated. 
Assistant-Surgeon  Mukerjee  also  reports  that  during  his 
cold-weather  tour  he  passed  through  some  villages  in  the 
Manbhum  district,  in  which  he  had  practised  inoculation 
the  previous  year :  and,  though  there  had  been  epidemics 
of  cholera  in  them,  the  inoculated  persons  escaped.  They 
came  to  him  in  numbers,  stating  that  they  owed  their 
safety  to  the  inoculation." 

Of  course,  the  preventive  treatment  touches  points 
only  here  and  there  on  the  map  of  India,  with  its 
300,000,000  people.  Probably  it  will  never  become 
so  general  in   India   as   vaccination.      Cholera   in   India 


CHOLERA  167 

recalls  what  Ambroise  Pare,  more  than  400  years  ago, 
wrote  of  the  plague,  "  Here  in  Paris  it  is  always  with 
us."  But,  wherever  preventive  inoculation  has  been 
done,  there  it  has  done  good. 

The  Medical  Aumial  for  1 905  contains  an  account  of 
some  preventive  inoculations  recently  made  during  an 
epidemic  in  Japan.  Among  the  inoculated,  the  attack- 
rate  was  much  lower  than  among  the  uninoculated ; 
and  the  mortality  was  45.5  per  cent.,  as  against  75 
per  cent. 

Another  most  important  result  of  the  discovery  of 
the  cholera  bacillus  is  its  use  in  diagnosis.  For 
example,  if  a  case  of  suspected  cholera  is  landed  at  a 
British  port,  the  sanitary  authority  at  once  takes  steps 
to  ascertain  w^hether  the  specific  microbe  is  present  ; 
and,  according  to  the  answer  given  b^^  bacteriology, 
either  allows  the  patient  to  proceed  on  his  journey,  or 
adopts  measures  of  isolation  to  prevent  the  spread  of 
the  disease  to  others.  Thus,  thanks  to  the  insular 
position  of  Great  Britain,  this  dreadful  disease  has 
for  many  years  been  prevented  from  invading  her 
population. 


VIII 
PLAGUE 

The  hacilliis  pestis  was  discovered  by  Kitasato  and 
Yersin,  working  independently,  in  1894.  Yersin's  dis- 
covery was  made  at  Hong  Kong,  whither  the  French 
Government  had  sent  him  to  study  plague  :  an  excel- 
lent account  of  his  work  is  given  in  the  Annates  de 
rinstitut  Pasteur,  September  1894.  The  first  experi- 
ments in  preventive  inoculation,  in  animals,  were  made 
by  Yersin,  Calmette,  and  Borrel,  working  conjointly,  in 
1895.  They  found  that  it  was  possible  to  confer  on 
animals  a  certain  degree  of  immunity,  by  the  hypo- 
dermic injection  of  dead  cultures  of  the  bacillus.  These 
experiments  were  made  on  rabbits  and  guinea-pigs. 

HafFkine's  fluid  was  first  used  on  man  in  January 
1897.  It  is  a  bouillon  containing  no  living  bacilli,  and 
nothing  offensive  to  the  religious  beliefs  of  India.^  He 
proved  its  efficacy  on  rabbits  ;  and  then,  on  loth 
January  1 897,  inoculated  himself  with  a  large  dose, 
four  times  as  strong  as   the   subsequent  standard  dose. 

1  It  is  said  that  the  Jains  object  to  inoculations  on  the  grounds 
of  rehgion  ;  and  one  or  two  witnesses  before  the  Plague  Commis- 
sion gave  evidence  to  the  same  effect.  But,  at  Bombay,  the  high- 
priest  of  a  great  religious  community  addressed  a  meeting  of  5000 
in  favour  of  the  new  treatment ;  and  the  rush  of  suppliants  for 
inoculation  at  Hubli  and  Gaday  proves  that  there  is  no  real  reli- 
gious difficulty.  Doctors  have  been  assaulted,  as  at  Poona,  so  at 
Oporto  ;    in    neither    case   can   we    say    Tantum   relligio  potuit 

suadere  maloruin. 

168 


PLAGUE  169 

A  few  days  later,  Lieut. -Col.  Hatch,  Principal  of  the 
Grant  Medical  College,  Bombay,  and  other  members  of 
the  College  Staft',  were  inoculated.  These  first  inocula- 
tions were  described  by  Haftkine  in  a  lecture  (1901)  at 
Poona : — 

"  In  a  short  time,  a  number  of  the  most  authoritative 
physicians  in  Bombay,  European  and  native,  official 
medical  officers  and  private  practitioners,  submitted 
themselves  for  inoculation.  It  is  a  matter  of  gratifi- 
cation to  me  to  be  able  to  quote,  among  these  authori- 
ties, the  Head  of  the  Medical  Service  of  the  Presidency, 
Surgeon-General  Bainbridge,  who  not  only  got  himself 
inoculated,  but  inoculated  also  the  members  of  his  family. 
Previous  to  that,  Surgeon-General  Harve}-,  the  able 
Director-General  of  the  Indian  Medical  Service,  sub- 
mitted himself  to  inoculation  in  1893  against  cholera; 
and,  in  1898,  against  plague.  It  was  the  example  of 
these  gentlemen,  whose  competence  in  the  matter  of 
health  could  not  be  disputed,  that  encouraged  thousands 
of  people,  rich  and  poor,  in  Bombay  and  elsewhere,  to 
come  forward  for  inoculation.  Thus  his  Excellency  the 
Viceroy  thought  it  right  to  tell  you  here,  in  Poona,  that 
previous  to  his  starting  for  the  plague-stricken  districts 
he  and  his  staff"  had  also  undergone  the  prophylactic 
inoculation.  In  due  course,  mothers  brought  their  chil- 
dren to  be  protected  b}'  the  new  'vaccination.'" 

Within  a  few  months,  8142  persons  in  or  near 
Bombay  were  inoculated.  It  was  not  possible,  in 
Bombay,  during  the  rush  of  plague-work,  to  follow 
up  every  one  of  these  8142  persons.  But  there  is 
reason  to  believe,  making  some  allowance  for  oversights, 
that  only  18  =  0.2  per  cent,  of  them,  were  attacked 
during  the  epidemic:  that,  of  these  18,  only  2  died: 
and  that  these  2  died  within  twenty-four  hours  of  in- 
oculation, i.e.,  had  the  plague  in  them  already  at  the 
time  of  inoculation. 


I70  EXPERIMENTS    ON    ANIMALS 

And,  with  regard  to  a  small  group  of  the  inoculated, 
there  are  the  following  more  definite  facts.  This  group 
lived  outside  Bombay,  across  the  harbour,  in  a  village 
called  Mora.  The  population  of  Mora,  at  the  time  of 
the  epidemic,  was  estimated  at  less  than  looo.  Out 
of  this  number  429  were  inoculated  ;  which,  if  the 
population  be  reckoned  at  looo  exactly,  left  571  un- 
inoculated.  Among  the  429  inoculated,  there  were  7 
cases  of  plague,  with  no  deaths :  among  the  uninocu- 
lated  there  were  26  cases,  with  24  deaths. 

Just  a  week  after  Haflfkine  had  informed  the  Indian 
Government  that  he  had  tested  his  fluid  on  himself, 
plague  broke  out  in  the  Byculla  House  of  Correction, 
Bombay,  on  23rd  January  1897.  Between  the  23rd 
and  the  afternoon  of  the  30th,  there  were  14  cases, 
with  7  deaths.  On  the  afternoon  of  the  30th,  152 
prisoners  were  inoculated,  and  1 7  2  were  left  uninocu- 
lated.  The  outbreak  ceased  on  7th  February.  The 
figures,  as  corrected  b}^  the  Plague  Commission,  are, 
among  the  inoculated,  i  case,  which  recovered  ;  among 
the  uninoculated,  7  cases,  with  2  deaths. 

For  a  full  and  severe  examination  of  the  reports, 
statistics,  and  other  evidence  concerning  this  and  other 
outbreaks  in  which  preventive  inoculations  were  made, 
the  Report  ( 1 90 1 )  of  the  Indian  Plague  Commission  must 
be  studied.  The  Commissioners,  Professor  T.  R.  Fraser, 
Mr.  J.  P.  Hewett,  Professor  (now  Sir)  A.  E.  Wright, 
Mr.  A.  Cumine,  Dr.  Ruflfer,  and  Mr.  C.  J.  Hallifax, 
Secretary,  travelled  and  took  evidence  in  India  from 
November  1898  to  March  1899:  during  which  time 
they  held  70  sittings  and  examined  260  witnesses, 
some  at  great  length.  The  evidence  and  the  report 
are  published  in  five  large  volumes.  The  report,  540 
pages  in   all,  deals  exhaustively  with  the  whole  subject. 


PLAGUE  171 

It  represents  the  very  least — what  might  almost  be 
called  the  very  worst — that  can  be  said  of  Hatlkinc's 
fluid  :  and,  of  course,  it  reads  rather  differently  from 
the  reports  of  the  men  who,  with  their  lives  in  their 
hands,  and  worked  almost  past  endurance,  fought 
plague  themselves.  The  following  paragraphs  give, 
so  far  as  possible,  the  bare  facts  of  various  outbreaks 
of  the  disease  in  1897-99,  in  which  Haffkine's  fluid 
was  used. 

I.  Daman 

Plague  broke  out  in  Daman,  a  town  in  Portuguese 
territory,  north  of  Bombay,  and  in  constant  communi- 
cation with  Bombay  by  sea,  in  March  1897.  By  the 
end  of  the  month,  when  a  Government  cordon  was 
placed  round  the  town,  about  2000  out  of  10,900  had 
fled.  The  outbreak  reached  its  height  in  mid-April, 
and  was  practically  over  by  the  end  of  May.  In- 
oculations were  begun  on  26th  March.  The  total 
population  on  that  day  (2000  having  gone  out,  and 
670  having  died  of  plague)  is  estimated  at  8230. 
Of  these,  2197  were  inoculated,  and  6033  were  left 
uninoculated.  Among  the  inoculated  there  were  36 
deaths=i.6  percent.;  among  the  uninoculated  1482 
deaths  =  24.6  per  cent. 

The  Commissioners  criticise  these  figures  severely, 
and  do  not  accept  them  as  exact.  But  they  admit  the 
evidence  as  to  the  results  of  inoculation  among  the 
Parsee  community  of  Daman.  Of  this  community,  306 
in  number,  277  were  inoculated,  and  only  29  were 
left  uninoculated.  Among  the  inoculated  there  was  I 
death  =  0.36  per  cent.:  among  the  uninoculated  there 
were  4  deaths  =  13.8  per  cent. 

They  admit,   also,    the  house-to-house  investigations 


172  EXPERIMENTS   ON    ANIMALS 

made  by  Major  Lyons,  LM.S.,  President  of  the  Bombay 
Government  Plague  Committee.  At  the  end  of  May, 
he  visited  89  houses,  in  62  of  which  both  inoculated 
and  uninoculated  were  living  together.  He  found  that 
out  of  382  inoculated,  36  had  died  =  9.4  per  cent.  ; 
out  of  123  uninoculated,  38  had  died=30.9  per  cent. 

2.    Lanauli 

Plague  attacked  Lanauli,  a  small  hill-station  and 
railway  depot,  during  April  to  September  1897.  The 
entire  population  was  estimated  at  about  2000.  In- 
oculations were  begun  on  24th  July  in  two  wards  of 
the  town,  and  a  daily  house-to-house  inspection  was 
instituted.  The  figures  reported,  on  the  basis  of 
the  average  daily  strength  of  the  two  groups,  are  as 
follows  : — 

Inoculated,   323,   with    14  cases,  of  which    7  died 

=  2  per  cent. 
Uninoculated,  2>77j  with  78  cases,  of  which  57  died 

=  1 5  per  cent. 

The  Commissioners  criticise  the  method  on  which 
these  figures  are  based,  and  do  not  accept  them  as 
accurate.  But  they  agree  that  inoculation  "  exerted 
a  distinct  preventive  effect "  ;  and  they  admit  Major 
Baker's  evidence — ''  In  the  place  where  inoculation 
had  been  made  use  of,  the  town  was  thriving  and 
full  of  people  ;  and  the  other  part  of  the  town  was  ab- 
solutely empty.  One  side  had  plague,  and  the  other 
had  none." 

3 .   Kirki 

The  figures  here  were  obtained  under  especially 
favourable  circumstances  ;   and  the  Commissioners  have, 


PLAGUE  173 

practically,  no  fault  to  find  with  their  accuracy.  The 
following  account  is  by  Surgeon-Major  Bannerman, 
Superintendent  of  the  Plague  Research  Laboratory, 
Bombay : — 

"  Plague  broke  out  in  Kirki,  in  the  artillery  cantonment, 
situated  four  miles  from  Poona  ;  and  the  followers  of  the 
four  batteries  stationed  there  suffered  severely.  These 
men  were  living  with  their  families  in  lines  on  a  slop- 
ing plain,  under  military  discipline,  and  in  circumstances 
far  superior  in  a  sanitar\'  sense  to  those  of  the  average 
villager.  When  the  disease  appeared,  the  lines  were 
isolated,  so  that  none  could  enter  or  leave  without  the 
knowledge  of  the  military.  A  special  hospital  was  erected 
close  by,  where  all  sick  persons  were  sent  as  they  were 
discovered  by  the  search  parties  of  European  artillerymen, 
who  visited  each  house  thrice  daily.  It  is  therefore  prob- 
able that  all  cases  of  plague  were  promptly  discovered 
and  removed  to  hospital  :  and  in  each  case  the  usual  dis- 
infection was  thoroughly  and  systematically  carried  out. 
Yet,  in  spite  of  all  this,  it  was  found  that,  in  those  not 
protected  by  inoculation,  I  out  of  every  6  of  the  popu- 
lation was  attacked,  and  2  out  of  every  3  attacked  died. 
The  epidemic  was,  therefore,  a  severe  one.  The  popu- 
lation of  the  lines  numbered  15 30;  and,  out  of  these,  671 
volunteered  for  inoculation.  At  the  close  of  tlie  epidemic, 
the  plague-hospital  admission  and  discharge  book  was 
examined,  and  compared  with  the  register  of  those  inocu- 
lated, when  the  following  result  was  got.  The  popu- 
lation operated  on  being  under  military  discipline,  and 
confined  to  their  lines,  makes  the  accuracy  of  the  figures 
undoubted : — 

Inoculated,  671,  with  32  cases,  of  which   17  died 

=  2.5  per  cent. 
Uninoculated,  859,  with  143  cases,  of  which  98  died 

=  1 1.4  per  cent. 

"  Here,  then,  is   seen  a  body  of  people   divided   into 


174  EXPERIMENTS    ON    ANIMALS 

two  groups  by  the  fact  that  one  had  undergone  inocu- 
lation and  the  other  not,  but  differing  in  no  other  way, 
reacting  towards  plague  in  such  a  markedly  different 
manner  that  the  conclusion  is  forced  on  one,  that  the 
inoculation  must  be  the  cause.  Seeing  the  absolute 
similarity  of  conditions,  the  671  inoculated  should  have 
had  proportionately  112  cases  arid  yy  deaths,  if  they  had 
remai^ied  as  susceptible  to  the  disease  as  their  iininoculated 
brothers,  sisters^  parents,  wives,  husba?ids,  children  ;  buty 
ijtstead  of  that,  they  had  only  32  cases  and  17  deaths. 
This  death-rate  would  doubtless  have  been  still  further 
reduced,  but  for  the  fact  that  a  very  much  weakened 
vaccine  had  to  be  used,  owing  to  the  demand  having  got 
beyond  the  resources  of  the  laboratory  at  that  time." 

4.   Bel  gaum 

In  Belgaum,  a  town  of  Southern  India  with  a  normal 
population  of  about  30,700,  two  outbreaks  of  plague 
occurred  in  quick  succession.  The  first  outbreak  lasted 
from  November  1897  to  May  1898  ;  the  second, 
from  July  1898  to  January  1899.  During  the  two 
epidemics,  2466  persons  were  inoculated.  Of  these, 
it  was  reported  that  only  61  (or  62)  had  been  attacked, 
of  whom  33  died  =1.34  per  cent.  But  these  figures, 
in  the  judgment  of  the  Commission,  cannot  be  accepted 
as  even  approximately  correct.  There  are,  however, 
two  groups  of  these  Belgaum  cases,  one  of  which  the 
Commission  admits  as  substantially  accurate,  and  the 
other  as  absolutely  accurate.  These  groups  are, 
(i)  the  Army  cases;  (2)  the  cases  reported  by  Major 
Forman,  R.A.M.C,  Senior  Medical  Officer  of  the 
Station. 

(i)  The  Army  Cases. — These  cases  occurred  in  the 
26th  Madras  Infantry,  which  was  living  in  lines  close 
to    the  cantonment    and    the    city.       The    first    case    of 


PLAGUE  175 

plague  in  the  regiment  was  on  12th  November  i<S97. 
Ten  days  later,  the  regiment  was  moved  out  into  camp. 
Inoculation  was  begun,  by  Surgeon-Major  Bannerman, 
on  23rd  December,  up  to  which  time  there  had  been, 
among  the  regiment  and  its  families  and  followers,  78 
cases,  with  49  deaths.  The  following  account  of  the 
inoculations  is  given  by  Surgeon-Major   Bannerman  : — ■ 

'*  No  difficulty  was  experienced  in  persuading  the  men 
to  consent  to  inoculatiort,  when  it  was  explained  to  them 
that  they  would  be  free  to  return  to  their  houses  in  the 
lines  after  being  operated  on.  General  Rolland  was  the 
first  to  be  operated  on,  and  his  example,  combined  with 
that  of  the  officer  commanding,  and  their  medical  officer, 
who  were  all  operated  on  in  front  of  the  men,  sufficed  to 
convince  the  Sepoys  of  the  harmlessness  of  the  operation  : 
and  the  only  difficulty  that  then  remained  was  to  perform 
the  operation  fast  enough.  .  .  .  The  community  was, 
practically,  completel}'  inoculated  by  the  end  of  the  year. 
The  total  operated  on  was  1665,  out  of  a  population  of 
1746  living  in  the  lines  at  that  date.  The  81  not  operated 
on  were  infants,  women  far  advanced  in  pregnancy,  and 
the  sick  in  hospital  chiefly,  though  one  solitary  Sepoy 
has,  up  to  the  present  time,  refused  to  submit  to 
operation." 

From  this  time  onward  to  the  end  of  the  first 
epidemic,  though  the  disease  was  at  its  height  in 
January  in  the  neighbouring  city  and  cantonment, 
and  though  the  men  Were  allowed  to  go  freely  to 
these  places  after  inoculation,  on/v  2  out  of  the  1665 
were  attacked^   and  both   recovered. 

When  the  second  epidemic  came,  in  July  1898,  the 
troops,  families,  and  followers,  were  reinoculated  at  their 
own  request,  1801  in  all.  "  Practically  no  one  was  left 
in  the  lines  unprotected  by  inoculation."  From  this 
time  onward  to  the  end  of  the  second  epidemic,  though 


176  EXPERIMENTS   ON   ANIMALS 

it  was  much  more  severe  than  the  first,  only  12  cases 
occurred.  In  the  first  epidemic,  before  inoculation,  78 
cases  occurred,  and  2  after  it:  in  the  second,  and  much 
more  severe,  epidemic,  though  the  sanitary  measures  adopted 
in  both  epidemics  were  similar,  only  1 2  cases  occurred, 
^*  It  would  hardly  appear  to  be  open  to  doubt/'  says 
the  Commission,  "  that  the  practical  immunity  of 
the  regiment,  during  the  second  outbreak,  was  due 
to   inoculation." 

(2)  Major  Forman's  evidence  before  the  Commission 
is  very  striking,  though  the  figures  are  small.  The 
following  abstract  of  it  is  given  in  the  Report  of  the 
Commission  : — 

''The  groups  of  persons,  concerning  whom  Major 
Forman  gave  us  evidence,  were  his  private  servants,  and 
the  hospital  attendants  of  the  Belgaum  Station  Hospital 
with  their  wives  and  children.  He  inoculated  these 
groups  when  plague  first  broke  out  in  the  town,  and 
was  able  to  keep  in  touch  with  them  continuously  after 
that  time.  Regarding  the  first  group,  he  says,  bringing 
down  their  history  to  3rd  March  1899,  'Of  my  private 
servants  there  were  in  all,  including  their  wives  and 
children,  28  people  inoculated.  There  have  been  no 
cases  of  plague,  and  no  deaths  up  to  date.  There  were 
3  uninoculated.  One  was  a  child  of  9  years  of  age, 
whose  father  refused  to  allow  it  to  be  inoculated.  It  died 
of  plague  12  days  after  the  other  people  were  inoculated. 
The  other  2  cases  that  were  not  inoculated  were  not  so 
distinctly  under  my  own  observation.  One  was  a  sweeper 
employed  in  the  cantonment,  and  sleeping  in  my  com- 
pound :  he,  I  am  told,  died  of  plague  some  months  after- 
wards. The  other  was  my  water-carrier :  he  threw 
himself  into  a  well :  I  was  informed  that  he  had  buboes 
and  fever,  and  ran  away  to  escape  segregation.  Of  the 
28   inoculated,    none    died    of   plague :    and    of   3    unin- 


PLAGUE  177 

oculated,  2  are  said   to  have  died  of  plague,  and   i   un- 
doubtedly died  of  plague.' " 

•'  Regarding  the  second  group  of  which  he  gave  us 
particulars,  Major  Forman  said  that,  out  of  90  hospital 
servants,  Sy  were  inoculated.  Of  the  inoculated  persons, 
I  died  from  fever  and  endocarditis,  and  i  died  of  plague. 
Excepting  these  two,  the  rest  of  the  inoculated  were  alive 
and  well  in  March  1899.  Only  3  persons  remained 
uninoculated.  Of  these,  one  was  not  operated  upon, 
because  she  had  recently  been  delivered  ;  another  was 
not  operated  upon,  because  she  was  pregnant ;  and  the 
third  was  a  boy  of  16  years  of  age,  whose  father  refused 
to  let  him  be  inoculated.  The  boy  died  of  plague,  two 
months  after  the  inoculation  of  the  rest  of  the  hospital 
servants  had  been  done.  One  of  the  two  uninoculated 
women  died  of  plague  two  days  after  the  boy,  she  having 
been  in  attendance  upon  him.  The  other  uninoculated 
woman  remained  well." 


5.   The  Ufnarkhadi  Jai7,  Bombay 

Plague  broke  out  in  this  jail  on  the  last  day  of  1897, 
and  3  prisoners  died.  Next  day,  ist  January  1898, 
all  the  prisoners  were  paraded,  and  all  were  willing  to 
be  inoculated.  But  it  was  decided  to  divide  them  into 
two  equal  groups,  and  inoculate  one  group.  There 
were  402  altogether  :  2,  when  their  turn  came,  re- 
fused to  be  inoculated  :  thus  199  were  inoculated,  and 
203  were  left  uninoculated.  No  distinction  was  made 
between  the  two  groups :  "  They  had  the  same  food 
and  drink,  the  same  hours  of  work  and  rest,  and  the 
same  accommodation."  The  plague  did  not  come 
wholly  to  an  end  till  March.  The  figures,  since  the 
inmates  of  a  jail  are  a  shifting  population,  are  based  on 

M 


178 


EXPERIMENTS   ON    ANIMALS 


the  average  daily  number  of  each  group  :  this  was  147 
for  the  inoculated,  and  i  27  for  the  uninoculated.  The 
figures  are : — 


Average  Daily  Number. 

Cases. 

Deaths. 

Inoculated    .         .         147 
Uninoculated         .          127 

3 
9 

0 
5 

The  Commission  draw  attention  to  "  the  important 
fact  that,  during  the  whole  period  of  the  outbreak,  the 
number  of  attacks  among  the  inoculated  was  only  one- 
third  of  the  number  among  the  uninoculated  ;  and  that 
the  disease  among  the  inoculated  was  remarkably  mild, 
resembling  mumps  more  than  plague,  though  the  cases 
among  the  uninoculated  were  of  average  severity." 
According  to  Surgeon-Major  Bannerman,  the  hospital 
authorities  were  doubtful  whether  these  three  cases 
among  the  inoculated  were  plague  at  all. 


6.    Undhera 

The  figures  for  Undhera  are  ver}'  valuable  :  '^  The 
conditions,"  says  Surgeon-Major  Bannerman,  ^'  ap- 
proached very  nearly  the  strictness  of  a  laboratory 
experiment."  Even  the  Commissioners  are  enthu- 
siastic  here. 

Undhera  is  an  agricultural  village,  6  miles  from 
Baroda.  Plague  broke  out  in  it,  in  January  1898.  A 
careful  census  was  taken,  and  showed  a  population  of 
1029.  By  1 2th  February  there  had  been  y6  deaths. 
On  that  day  the  village  was   visited   by  Mr.  HafiTiine, 


PLAGUE 


179 


Surgeon-Major  Banncrman,  and  other  experts,  and  513 
persons  were  inoculated  : — By  reference  to  the  census 
papers,  the  whole  of  the  inhabitants  were  called  out,  house 
by  house,  and  the  half  of  each  household  inoculated.  In 
this  way,  an  endeavour  was  made  to  inoculate  half  the 
men,  half  the  women^  and  half  the  children  in  each  family, 
and  to  arrange  that  a  fairly  equal  proportion  of  the  sickly- 
looking  should  be  placed  in  each  division.  The  plague 
lasted  42  days  after  the  inoculations,  and  afFected  28 
families.  On  4th  April  a  house-to-house  investigation 
was  made  by  Mr.  Haffkine,  Surgeon-General  Harve}^ 
Surgeon-Major  Bannerman,  and  Captain  Dyson.  The 
figures  are  as  follows  : — 


Population  on 
i2th  February. 

Cases. 

Deaths             Mortality. 

1029-76  =  953 

Inoculated,       513 
Uninoculated,  440 

S 
2S 

3       !  0.6  per  cent. 
27        ■  6.0  per  cent. 

Thus,  out  of  28  families,  where  the  protected  and 
the  unprotected  lived  and  ate  and  slept  together,  the 
protected,  71,  had  3  deaths  ;  and  the  unprotected,  64, 
had  27.  The  percentage  of  attacks  was  four  times 
higher  among  the  unprotected  ;  the  percentage  of 
deaths  was  ten   times  higher. 


7.    Khoja  Community,  Bombay 

The  head  of  this  community,  H.H.  Sir  Sultan  Shah, 
Aga  Khan,  K.C.I. E.,  opened  a  private  station  for  the 
inoculation  of  the  community  in  March  1897,  and  again 
in  December  of  that  year.      He  was  himself  inoculated 


i8o  EXPERIMENTS   ON   ANIMALS 

three  times,  and  many  of  the  community  so  often  as 
five  times.  The  work  of  inoculation  went  on  daily,  and 
by  20th  April  1898  the  number  of  persons  inoculated 
or  reinoculated  was  5184.  The  whole  community, 
according  to  a  careful  census  taken  at  the  beginning 
of  1898,  numbered  9350;  but,  since  many  families 
had  fled  to  avoid  the  infection,  this  number  is  too  low. 
The  Commissioners  guess  9770  :  Haffkine,  to  the  dis- 
advantage of  his  own  statistics,  guesses  so  high  as 
13,330.  The  number  of  the  inoculated  or  reinocu- 
lated shifted,  of  course,  as  the  work  went  on  :  their 
average  daily  number  during  the  four  months  of  plague, 
January  to  April  1898,  was  3814. 

During  these  four  months,  the  number  of  deaths 
from  all  causes  in  the  whole  community  was  1 84. 
According  to  the  average  mortality  of  the  community 
in  times  of  no  plague,  the  deaths  from  all  causes  during 
four  months  would  be  102.  It  may  fairly  be  assumed 
that  the  extra  deaths,  82,  were  due  to  plague  :  and, 
indeed,  64  plague-deaths  were  either  acknowledged  by 
the  relatives,  or  certified  by  the  burial-books  of  the 
community.  Of  these  82  deaths,  3  occurred  among  the 
inocidated  or  reinocidated,  and  J  J  among  the  uninoctdated. 

The  Commissioners  find  fault  with  these  figures : 
"  Nevertheless,  quite  apart  from  the  statistics  put  before 
us,  which  we  think  inaccurate,  we  do  not  doubt  that 
inoculations  had  a  good  effect,  especially  as  much 
weight  must  be  allowed  to  the  opinion  of  a  com- 
munity  so  inteUigent  as   that  of  the  Khojas." 


PLAGUE  i8i 


8.   Hiibli 


This,  the  greatest  and  most  amazing  of  all  instances 
of  preventive  plague-work,  was  done  in  a  town  of 
50,000  persons.  The  following  report,  by  Surgeon- 
Captain  Leumann,  was  forwarded  to  the  Plague  Com- 
missioners by  Mr.  E.  K.  Cappel,  Collector  of  Dharwar, 
with  this  comment : —  - 


**  The  town  of  Hubli — a  mercantile  town  of  over  50,000 
inhabitants — was  attacked  by  plague  in  an  epidemic  form 
at  the  commencement  of  the  monsoon  rains.  The  average 
rainfall  between  April  and  October  amounts  to  more  than 
28  inches.  Under  these  circumstances,  although  a  large 
and  weather-proof  health  camp  had  been  prepared  for 
emergencies,  complete  evacuation  of  the  infected  town- 
site  was  impossible;  and  the  attempt  to  effect  it  would 
have  led  to  the  severest  hardships  and  to  the  immediate 
spread  of  the  disease  into  surrounding  villages  and  dis- 
tricts. It  was  for  this  reason  that  the  determination  was 
formed  to  make  a  bold  and  comprehensive  experiment 
with  the  prophylactic,  and  not  on  any  a  priori  grounds. 
If  this  experiment  had  failed,  the  results,  judged  by  the 
actual  mortality  among  the  uninoculated,  would  have 
been  appalling.  All  possible  sanitary  measures  in  the 
shape  of  disijifectioriy  unroofing  of  houses^  and  segregatio^i^ 
were  applied  concurrently  with  inoculation,  as  Govern- 
ment are  already  aware  ;  but  the  rate  of  mortality  among 
those  who  held  back  from  inoculation  rose  at  one  time  to  a 
height  which y  I  believe,  has  never  been  approached  else- 
where. .  .  . 

"  However,  the  experiment,  in  the  hands  of  Dr.  Leu- 
mann, did  not  fail,  and  it  has  afforded  a  demonstration 
of  success  which  is  of  Imperial  importance.  Many  thou- 
sands of  lives  have  undoubtedly  been  saved,  and  at  the 
present  moment  the  plague  mortality  is  merely  sporadic. 


i82  EXPERIMENTS    ON    ANIMALS 

and  Hubli  is  steadily  regaining  its  normal  population  and 
trade,  though  surrounded  by  infected  villages." 

The  Hubli  report  must  be  put  at  full  length,  for 
the  vivid  picture  it  gives  of  plague  in  India,  and  of 
the  difficulties  besetting  the  magnificent  work  of  the 
Indian  Medical  Service.  It  is  a  story  that  Mr.  Kipling 
ought  to  write.  And  it  is  to  be  noted  that  Surgeon- 
Captain  Leumann,  who  saved  Hubli,  recognised  the 
extreme  importance  of  other  methods  than  inoculation 
— disinfection,  isolation  of  cases,  evacuation  of  infected 
districts.      He  says  : — 

"  While  paying  the  highest  tribute  to  the  value  of 
Mr.  Haffkine's  inoculation  method,  which  I  claim,  here 
in  Hubli,  to  have  put  to  perhaps  the  severest  test  to 
which  it  has  yet  been  subjected,  I  am  of  the  opinion  that 
individual  protection  is,  on  however  great  a  scale  con- 
ducted, of  less  importance  to  that  of  general  protection 
and  hygiene  (considering  each  method  separately,  that 
is  to  say),  for  it  seems  to  me  more  radical,  if  not  more 
rational,  to  eradicate  a  disease  than  to  leave  it  to  pursue 
its  course  and  only  protect  people  against  its  ravages." 

Sanitation,  therefore,  was  Dr.  Leumann's  faith.  Now 
for  his  works  : — 

"I  first  started  inoculation  here  on  nth  Ma}'.  .  .  . 
When  I  began  my  inoculations,  I  operated  first  of  all  on 
some  European  or  native  gentlemen  in  front  of  a  crowd  of 
poor  and  low-caste  people,  w^hom  I  had  gathered  together 
in  the  worst-affected  area,  and  they  were  thus  soon  in- 
duced to  ask  for  inoculation  themselves.  .  .  .  They  have 
presented  themselves,  by  the  hundred,  at  all  times  of 
the  day,  before  myself  and  others,  for  the  purpose  of 
being   inoculated. ^  ...   I    have    never    experienced    the 

^  Compare  the  account  of  the  inoculations  at  Gaday,  in  the 
Lancet^   nth   February    1898:    "To  see  the  crowd  waiting   and 


PLAGUE  i8 


J 


slightest  dilliculty  in  inoculating  Mussulnianis  or  any 
other  purdah  women  in  liubli.  .  .  .  The  very  men  who, 
in  March  last,  created  a  disturbance  in  Ilubli,  were 
not  only  the  first  and  the  most  willing  to  undergo  in- 
oculation, but  also  to  bring  their  wives  and  families  to 
my  hospital,  or  to  invite  me  to  their  homes  to  inoculate 
them. 

**  Inoculated  persons  holding  certificates  of  double 
inoculation  have,  at  my  special  wish  and  order,  been 
left  in  their  homes  thrqughout  this  epidemic;  only  their 
clothes,  house,  and  property  being  disinfected  on  the 
occurrence  of  a  plague  case  or  death  in  their  house.  As 
the  vast  majority  of  plague  cases  have  never  been  notified 
before  death  in  Hubli  (nor,  in  my  experience  of  nearly 
two  years,  elsewhere,  if  native  supervision  be  largely 
resorted  to),  it  will  readily  be  understood  that  the  majority 
of  the  inoculated  have  actually  been  Hving  in  the  same 
house,  or  even  room,  with  a  plague  case  (often  of  the 
pneumonic  type,  whose  terrible  power  of  spreading  the 
disease  was  first  shown  by  Professor  Childe,  I. M.S., 
of  Bombay)  during  the  whole  of  the  time  that  case  was 
living,  probably  attending  on  the  patient,  breathing  the 
same  stuffy  air,  and,  perhaps,  sharing  the  same  blanket ; 
and  I  attach  at  the  end  of  this  report  a  long  series  of 
cases  where  such  conditions  have  occurred,  tJie  non- 
inoculated  dying  of  plague ^  and  the  inoculated  escaping, 
almost  to  a  man. 

"  Various  critics  on  my  work,  not  knowing  what  the 
actual  facts  were  and  are,  have  at  different  times  asserted 
that  the  inoculated  inhabitants  of  Hubli  left  the  town  in 
larger  numbers  than  the  non-inoculated.  Exactly  the 
reverse  was  the  case.  The  British  officers  on  plague 
duty  here,  and  all  the  Divisional  Superintendents,  in- 
variably replied  (officially  and  in  writing  when  so  re- 
quired) that  the  non-inoculated  left  Hubli  in  far  greater 

struggling  to  pass  the  barrier  is  a  strange  sight ;  old  men  and 
women,  young  children,  and  mothers  with  babes  in  their  arms, 
form  a  daily  crowd  numbered  by  hundreds,  who  wait  for  hours 
to  get  their  chance  of  the  day's  inoculation." 


184  EXPERIMENTS   ON    ANIMALS 

numbers  and  proportion  than  the  inoculated ;  and  my 
own  observations  entirely  bear  out  this  statement. 

"  It  has  been  urged  that  those  who  received  inoculation 
were  of  a  class  or  classes  better  protected  than  others 
against  plague  by  reason  of  their  habits,  the  food  they 
eat,  the  houses  they  live  in,  etc.  In  reply,  I  unhesitat- 
ingly state  that  if  there  be  but  one  town  in  India  where 
that  line  of  argument  will  not  hold  good,  it  certainly  is 
Hubli ;  for  not  only  were  the  poorer,  dirtier,  lower-caste 
people  the  first  to  be  persuaded  to  receive  inoculation,  but 
I  made  it  my  personal  and  special  duty  to  work  amongst 
the7n.  My  first  few  thousand  inoculations  were  almost 
entirely  amongst  the  lowest  and  poorest  of  the  people. 
The  Brahmins  are,  perhaps,  of  all  castes,  supposed  to 
be  the  most  cleanly  in  their  houses,  habits,  etc.,  yet  the 
Brahmins  of  Hubli  (who  at  first,  imagining  themselves 
immune,  were  the  foremost  and  greatest  perverters  of 
the  truth  concerning  its  efficacy,  and  the  last  to  apply  for 
the  protection  inoculation  affords),  simply  inundated  the 
various  inoculation  centres,  as  soon  as  plague  began  to 
spread  in  their  midst,  clamouring  for  the  very  method  of 
which  they  had  only  lately  tried  to  prevent  others  from 
availing  themselves. 

"  Unfortunately,  the  average  native,  educated  or  not, 
appears  to  have  the  very  greatest  aversion  to  notifying 
any  case  of  sickness — plague  or  other — and  hence,  in  my 
opinion,  it  becomes  more  necessary  than  ever  to  protect 
the  people  by  inoculation,  since  they  will  not  help  to  pro- 
tect themselves  by  the  foremost  and  simplest  of  sanitary 
and  hygienic  measures.^     With  so  few  police  (and  those 

^  Compare  the  account  given  by  the  Rev.  H.  Haigh  {^Methodist 
Recorder,  December  i8g8),  of  the  plague  at  Bangalore:  "The 
native  population  do  all  they  can  to  elude  the  vigilance  of  the 
authorities.  In  order  to  escape  segregation,  the  householders  in 
many  instances  refrain  from  reporting  plague,  and  not  infrequently 
bury  the  corpse  secretly.  Not  only  is  any  spare  piece  of  ground 
used  as  a  burial-place,  but  the  body  is  at  times  thrown  into  a  well 
or  tank,  or  dropped  over  the  wall  of  some  European  compound. 
During  one  week  three  plague  corpses  were  found,  badly  decom- 
posed, in  reservoirs  commonly  resorted  to  for  drinking  purposes." 


Pr.AGUE 


185 


none  too  good)  to  iielp  one;  an  inadequate  British  Staff; 
with  so  much  reliance  placed  in  Native  Superintendents 
and  Supervisors,  and  a  Municipality  so  bankrupt  that  it 
could  not  apparently  afford  to  buy  enough  blankets  out 
of  its  own  funds  for  the  patients  in  the  Plague  Hospitals 
— the  work  of  segregation,  house-to-house  inspection, 
etc.,  became,  from  a  medical  point  of  view,  absurdly  in- 
suflicient. 

"The  total  number  of  inoculations  performed  in  Hubli, 
both  on  actual  inhabitants  and  on  people  from  outside 
(villages)  between  1 1  th  May  and  27th  September,  amounts 
to  some  78,000  altogether." 


I 


Dates. 

Census  of 
HublL 

u 

"3 

u 
0 

3 
0 

•5     i! 

V  0  u 
=  B  c 

ue-deaths 

mong 

culated. 

"T 

0 

bo  ^  "7 

to  «  0 

c 

C 

^        C 

rt       c 

Fell  from 

0 

S    1 

a,     '"' 

Five  weeks  from 

50,000  to 

May  II  to  June  14 

47,427 

44,573 

2,854 

47 

I 

Week  ending  June  21 

47,082 

41,494 

5,588 

22 

3 

,,            June  28 

47,485 

39,042 

8,443 

29 

I 

July    5 

46,537 

36,020 

10,517 

55 

6 

,,            July    12 

46,518 

33,255 

13,263 

34 

6 

July    19 

45,240 

29,716 

15,524 

82 

7 

,,            July    26 

43,809 

24,112 

19,697 

100 

15 

Aug.    2 

43,707 

21,031 

22,676 

140 

16 

Aug.    9 

42,768 

15,584 

27,184 

272 

19 

,,            Aug.  16 

40,441 

10,685 

29,756 

386 

61 

Aug.  23 

39,400 

6,367 

33,033 

371 

41 

Aug.  30 

38,210 

4,094 

34,116 

328 

28 

Sept.    6 

38,382 

2,731 

35,469 

227 

34 

Sept.  13 

38,408 

1,116 

37,292 

138 

47 

,,            Sept.  20 

39,142 

937 

38,205 

106 

55 

„            Sept.  27 

39,315 

603 

38,712 

58 

20 

1 

i86  EXPERIMENTS   ON    ANIMALS 

II 


Plague  dtath-iate. 

Comparison  per  1000 

Percentage  reduction 

Dates. 

between 

of  Plague  death-rate 

in  favour  of  the 

Inoculated. 

Non- 

Inoculated. 

inoculated. 

Five  weeks  from 

May  II  to  June  14 

1.022 

•350 

Over     65  per  cent. 

Week  ending  June  21 

•530 

-527 

About      I       ,, 

,,            June  28 

.742 

.118 

Nearly  85        ,, 

July     5 

1.524 

.570 

About  63        ,, 

,,            July    12 

1.022 

.452 

Nearly  56       ,, 

July    19 

2-793 

•450 

84       „ 

,,             July    26 

4.147 

.761 

82       „ 

, ,             Aug.     2 

6.650 

•705 

89       „ 

Aug.     9 

17-325 

.698 

Over     96       ,, 

„             Aug.  16 

33-694 

2.083 

94       ,, 

Aug.  23 

57.011 

1. 241 

98       „ 

Aug.  30 

80.116 

.820 

98       „ 

,,             Sept.    0 

83.112 

-958 

99       ,. 

Sept.  13 

112.903 

1.260 

Over     99       ,, 

,,             Sept.  20 

113.127 

1-439 

Over     99       ,, 

,,            Sept.  27 

96.185 

■5^7 

Over     99       ,, 

"  It  appears  that  if  the  47,427  inhabitants  had  remained,  as  they 
did — in  their  town,  without  running  away  by  rail  or  otherwise,  or 
without  camping  out  in  a  mass — and  if  no  inoculation  had  been 
resorted  to — they  would  have  lost  24,899  souls,  or  a  little  over  half 
of  their  number.  The  official  records  show  that  this  has  actually 
occurred,  during  the  present  terrible  outbreak,  in  a  number  of  large 
villages,  of  2000  inhabitants  and  over,  in  the  Hubli  taluka  and  else- 
where in  the  Dharwar  District,  where  no  inoculation  was  done, 
and  no  camping-out  was  possible  on  account  of  the  wet  weather." 
(Haffkine's  commentary  on  Dr.  Leumann's  report.) 

That  is  the  story  of  Hubli ;  and,  as  it  stands,  it  is 
almost  incredible.  The  Commissioners,  by  very  strict 
inquiry,  reduced  it  to  credibility  without  robbing  it  of 
glory.  The  inquiry  brought  out  more  instances  of  the 
immeasurable  difficulty  of  the  work.  Natives  who 
wished  to  avoid  inoculation  would  escape  through  the 
back  door    at   the   sight   of  a  plague   officer  :    bribery, 


PLAGUE  187 

personation,  sale  or  transfer  of  certificates  of  inocu- 
lation, concealment  of  cases  and  of  deaths,  were  all 
practised  by  those  who  wished  not  to  be  inoculated, 
or  to  get  the  privileges  of  the  inoculated  without 
inoculation,  or  to  save  their  infected  houses  from  being 
disinfected  and  unroofed.  Again,  with  the  people  dying 
like  flies,  and  many  of  them  bearing  no  mark  of  identi- 
fication, and  with  the  medical  officers  overworked  past 
human  endurance,  the  wonder  is,  not  that  the  statistics 
were  faulty,  but  that  there  are  any  statistics  at  all. 
Certainly,  the  Commission  is  well  within  the  mark  in 
saying,  "It  is  quite  clear  that  a  very  large  number  of 
lives  must  have  been  saved  in  Hubli  by  inoculations 
during  the  whole  course  of  the  epidemic  there.  More- 
over, we  may  note  that  an  arithmetical  estimate  is  not  the 
only  criterion  by  which  we  can  appreciate  the  value  of  inocu- 
lations. And  in  Hubli  their  value  is  approved  by  the  con- 
sensus of  opinions  of  officers  who  have  seen  probably  far 
more  of  this  process  and  its  results  in  practice  than  any 
other  persons  in  India,  and  who,  having  every  facility 
for  forming  a  sound  judgment  as  to  its  effect  where 
plague  was  really  virulent,  are  satisfied  as  to  its  great 
value!' 

Finally,  as  at  Daman  so  at  Hubli,  there  are  lesser 
groups  of  statistics,  of  that  kind  which  is  approved  by 
the  consensus  of  opinions  of  officers.  These  are,  ( I ) 
Lieutenant  Keelan's  house  -  to  -  house  investigation  ; 
(2)  the  Southern  Mahratta  Spinning  Mills  ;  (3)  the 
Southern   Mahratta   Railway  employes. 

I.  Lieutenant  Keelan  made  a  house-to-house  visita- 
tion of  200  houses,  in  each  of  which  there  were  pro- 
tected and  unprotected  persons  living  together,  and 
in  each  of  w^hich  there  had  been  one  or  more  cases 
of  plague.     The   figures   for   69    of   these   houses    are 


i88 


EXPERIMENTS   ON    ANIMALS 


appended   to   Captain  Leumann's  report.      They  are  as 
follows  : — 


Inoculated      .... 
Uninoculated      .     .     . 

Inmates.             Cases. 

Deaths.           Mortality. 

33^                II 
144                84 

4                    1-19 

80              55 

These  69  houses  were  selected  :  there  was  nothing 
unfair  in  the  method  of  selection,  still,  they  were 
"  good  houses " ;  the}^  are  not,  therefore,  exact  for 
statistics ;  but,  as  the  Commissioners  say,  they  are 
''of  interest  as  quite  special  examples  of  successful 
inoculation." 

2.  In  the  Southern  Mahratta  Spinning  and  Weaving 
Company's  Mills,  a  careful  record  of  inoculation  was 
kept  and  checked  by  the  manager.  The  number  of 
the  w^orkpeople  at  the  time  when  inoculation  was  begun, 
2 1  St  June,  was  1173.  ^^  ^^^  ^^^  of  the  epidemic  the 
figures  w^ere  : — 


Deaths.             Mortality  per 
cent. 

Inoculated  twice  .     .     1040 
Inoculated  once    .     .         58 
Uninoculated   ...         75 

22 

8 

20 

2. 1 1 

13-79 
26.66 

Here,  again,  the  figures  have  not  a  statistical  value  : 
"  We  are  not  informed  w^hether  the  inoculations  were 
performed  simultaneously;  or  at  what  stage  of  the 
outbreak  the  average  strength  of  the  inoculated  was 
reached."  All  the  same,  what  Major  Bannerman  says 
of  them  is  true — T/ie  experience  in  this  company's  mill  at 


PLAGUE  189 

Htibli  should   be   an    object  lesson  to  all  mill-owners  in 
plague-stricken  towns. 

3.  The  figures  for  the  Southern  Mahratta  Railway 
are  given  by  Major  Bannerman  in  his  "Statistics" 
(1900):  they  are  not  mentioned  in  the  Report  of  the 
Plague  Commission.  They  are  of  great  value,  because 
the  daily  shifting  of  the  numbers  was  recorded  as  the 
work  of  inoculation  went  on,  and  the  date  of  each  case 
of  plague  was  also  noted.  Major  Bannerman  gives  the 
following  account  : — 

"The  railway  employes  were  living  in  barracks,  and 
in  the  railway  yard,  apart  from  the  general  population  of 
Hubli  town.  They  were  under  close  daily  iyispection  by 
English  officialSy  who  formed  a  committee  for  this  pur- 
pose, with  Dr.  Chenai  as  their  medical  adviser.  The 
results  may  therefore  be  regarded  as  accurate  in  a  high 
degree,  the  numbers  dealt  with  not  being  excessive,  and 
the  supervision  strict." 

The  figures,  based  on  the  average  numbers  in  each 
group,  are  as  follows  : — 


Cases.                   Deaths. 

Mortality  per 
cent. 

Twice  inoculated    .     .     990 
Once  inoculated      .     .     270 
Uninoculated     .     .     .     760 

6 

5 

35 

I 

I 

21 

O.I 

0-3 

2.7 

These  eight  instances  must  suffice :  many  must  be 
left  out — among  them,  Dharwar  and  Gadag,  where  Miss 
Corthorn,  M.B.,  did  work  as  splendid  as  Leumann's 
work  at  Hubli  ;  and  Mr.  Anderson's  work  in  the  Ahmed- 
nagar  villages  ;   and  many  more.      These  plague-reports 


190  EXPERIMENTS   ON    ANIMALS 

are  to  be  read,  not  for  their  record  of  heroic  zeal  and 
resourcefulness,  but  only  as  one  more  example  of  many 
thousand  lives  saved  by  a  method  learned  from  experi- 
ments on  animals. 

But,  of  course,  there  is  not,  and  perhaps  there  never 
will  be,  a  national  acceptance  and  adoption  of  this 
method  through  the  length  and  breadth  of  India.  It 
does  not  work  miracles  ;  it  is  an  uncomfortable  process 
to  submit  to  ;  privileges  must  be  offered  with  it,  or  the 
native  will  often  prefer  to  take  his  chance ;  the  pro- 
tection is  of  uncertain  duration  ;  all  sorts  of  lies  are 
told  about  it,  partly  by  anti-vivisectionist  writers, 
partly  by  native  political  agitators,  partly  by  the 
hakims.  For  instance,  at  a  meeting  of  hakims  at 
Masti,  Lahore,  on  nth  April  1898,  the  following  re- 
solutions were  passed : — 

"That  in  the  opinion  of  this  meeting  the  bubonic 
plague  is  not  a  contagious  disease.  It  originates  from 
poisoned  air,  and  this  poison  is  created  in  the  air  on 
account  of  atmospherical  germs  and  the  excess  of  ter- 
restrial humidities. 

"That  this  meeting,  having  carefully  considered  the 
Resolution  of  the  Punjab  Government  (nth  January 
1898),  is  of  opinion  that  the  rules  embodied  in  that 
Resolution  (isolation,  disinfection,  etc.),  are  unnecessary 
under  the  principles  of  Unani  medical  science." 

And  among  statements  to  be  made  to  the  Plague 
Commissioners  was  the  following,  from  a  native  practi- 
tioner in  Bombay  (April  1899)  : — 

"  I  do  not  think  the  plague  was  imported  in  Bombay 
from  Hong  Kong  or  anywhere  else.  I  attribute  three 
sources  of  causes   of  outbreaks  of  plague  in  Bombay : 


PLAGUE  191 

(a)  The  predisposing  cause  was  the  Bombay  Muni- 
cipahty;  {/?)  The  exciting  cause  was  the  Nature  herself; 
(c)  The  aggravating  cause  was  the  Plague  Committee." 

All  these  difficulties  were  well  stated  by  Surgeon- 
General  Harvey,  Director-General  of  the  Indian  Medical 
Service,  at  the  discussion  on  HafFkine's  discourse  before 
the  Royal  Society,  June  1899  : — 

"The  people  of  England  should  consider  the  difficulties 
attending  the  work  of  a  bacteriologist  in  India.  .  .  .  He 
had  no  doubt  as  to  the  value  of  the  inoculations.  At 
Undhera  he  carefully  examined  the  results  of  the  experi- 
ment, and,  as  far  as  he  could  judge,  there  was  no 
possibility  of  error.  The  results  in  that  experiment  were 
such  as  to  be  90  per  cent,  in  favour  of  the  inoculated 
against  the  uninoculated.  The  natives  of  India  were, 
however,  a  strange  people,  and  it  was  difficult  to  prophesy 
how  they  would  act.  In  Calcutta,  the  mention  of  in- 
oculations had  driven  in  hot  haste  from  the  city  300,000 
people,  many  of  whom  afterwards  returned  and  were 
inoculated;  while  at  Hubli  he  had  seen  the  inhabitants 
come  in  their  thousands  to  be  inoculated  and  pay  for 
the  inoculations.  The  medical  officer  in  charge  at  Hubli 
had  performed  about  80,000  inoculations,  and  had  only 
observed  some  12  abscesses.  He  thought  that  12 
abscesses  only,  in  80,000  inoculations,  showed  good 
results.  But,  after  all,  what  were  the  numbers  of  in- 
oculations performed  to  the  300,000,000  inhabitants  of 
India  ?  He  felt  that  even  if  every  one  consented  to  be 
inoculated  it  was  impossible  to  provide  the  vaccine  or  the 
medical  officers  for  such  a  demand.  It  was  accordingly 
to  sanitary  improvements  that  he  looked  with  the  most 
confidence  to  protect  India  against  the  plague." 

Therefore,  now  and  for  many  years  to  come,  pre- 
ventive inoculation   must  fall  into  line  with   the   other 


192  EXPERIMENTS   ON   ANIMALS 

world-wide  ways  of  fighting  plague — quarantine,  notifica- 
tion, isolation,  all  sanitary  measures,  destruction  of  rats 
— le  raty  le  genie  de  la  peste — evacuation  of  infected 
towns,  disinfection  or  unroofing  of  infected  houses. 
Happily,  this  is  just  what  it  does.  That  admirable 
paper,  the  Indian  Medical  Gazette  (September  1901), 
has  put  this  fact  very  simply  :  "  No  one  ever  imagined 
that  inoculation  was  the  only  means  of  fighting  plague. 
Its  great  value  consists  in  its  immediate  application. 
To  sanitate,  ventilate,  and  practically  rebuild  a  town  or 
village  takes  time  ;  and  in  the  meantime  thousands 
die."  For  sudden  outbursts  of  plague — since  rats  are 
one  chief  source  of  infection,  and  notification  is  funda- 
mentally abhorrent  to  native  custom,  and  evacuation 
may  ruin  trade,  or  spread  infection,  or  be  impossible 
by  reason  of  the  rains — since  *'  East  is  East,  and  West 
is  West  " — it  is  not  always  possible  to  provide,  for  an 
Indian  village  smitten  by  plague,  the  excellent  arrange- 
ments of  the  Western  world.  In  all  such  cases,  and 
in  all  cases  of  epidemic  plague  within  narrow  limits, 
as  in  jails,  barracks,  mills,  and  the  like  centres  of 
human  life ;  and  in  all  inner  communities,  such  as  the 
Parsee  community  at  Daman,  or  the  Jewish  community 
at  Aden — by  every  test  of  this  kind,  the  saving  power 
of  preventive  inoculation  has  been  proved,  again  and 
again,  past  all  doubt.  As  for  those  larger  death-traps, 
Hubli,  Dharwar,  and  the  rest  of  them,  here,  though 
the  statistics  are  inexact,  we  have  the  word  of  the 
men  and  women  themselves  who  stood  between  the 
dead  and  the  living,  and  the  plague  was  stayed.  Such 
faults  as  there  were,  in  1899,  in  the  treatment — 
the  contamination  of  this  or  that  stock  of  the  fluid, 
and  the  inadequate  method  of  standardisation — have 
been   duly   noted   by   the   Commission.      The   rush   for 


PLAGUE  193 

the  fluid  in  1899  may  be  estimated   from  the  following 
paragraphs  : — 

(i.)  Paris.  "The  preparation  of  anti-plague  serum  is 
being  rapidly  proceeded  with  ;  up  to  the  present  time 
the  Institute  has  supplied  it,  in  response  to  all  the  very 
numerous  requests  which  have  come  from  Portugal, 
Spain,  Italy,  and  Turkey,  without  encroaching  on  the 
reserve  kept  in  readiness  for  Paris  and  the  departments." 
{Lancet,  i6th  September  1899.) 

(ii.)  India.  ''  The  spread  of  plague  westward  to  Spain 
and  Portugal  seems  to  have  excited  more  or  less  general 
alarm,  and  I  hear  that  an  unprecedented  demand  has 
suddenly  arisen  for  the  plague  prophylactic  fluid.  The 
Government  of  India  have  been  asked  the  cost  of  supply- 
ing from  50,000  to  100,000  doses,  and  the  earliest  date 
at  which  this  quantity  could  be  despatched.  It  is  also 
desired  to  know  if  in  case  of  need  50,000  doses  a  week 
could  be  sent  to  London.  Russia  desires  to  obtain  a 
considerable  stock  for  Port  Arthur.  Italy  has  been 
making  inquiries  for  home  use;  and  also  Portugal,  in 
order  to  inoculate  at  Mozambique.  The  present  labora- 
tory is  at  Government  House,  Parel,  Bombay,  and  has 
only  recently  been  fitted  up  by  the  Government  of  India. 
About  10,000  doses  a  day  can  be  turned  out,  but  it  is 
thought  that  still  further  enlargements  will  be  required 
if  the  demand  should  increase  beyond  this  amount." 
{Lancet^  23rd  September  1899.) 


It  would  take  too  long  for  the  present  purpose  to 
consider  what  has  been  done,  not  only  for  the  pre- 
vention of  plague,  but  also  for  its  cure  by  a  serum 
treatment.  The  results  obtained  by  this  treatment  in 
India  have  not  been  very  good  ;  but  Yersin  and  others 
report  better  results  in  other  countries.  Good  results 
are  reported  from  Amoy  (1896),  Nhatrang  (1898), 
Oporto  (1899),  and   Buenos  Ayres  (1899— 1900).      In 

N 


194  EXPERIMENTS    ON    ANIMALS 

Glasgow,  the  prophylactic  use  of  Yersin's  serum  seems 
to  have  done  excellent  service :  the  success  of  its 
curative  use  was  not  very  striking.  The  curative 
results  at  Nhatrang  (Yersin,  A7inales  de  VInstitut 
Pasteur^  March  1S99)  are  notable.  Nhatrang  is  an 
Annamese  fishing-village  ;  and  the  plague,  when  it  was 
left  to  itself,  killed  every  case  that  it  got : — 

'*  La  peste  s'est  montree  excessivement  meurtriere  chez 
les  Annamites.  Sur  72  cas  de  peste,  39  personnes  chez 
lesquelles  la  maladie  a  evolue  normalement,  ou  qui  n'ont 
ete  traites  que  par  des  medecins  indigenes,  sont  mortes 
sans  exception.  Les  33  autres  cas  ont  pu  etre  traites 
par  le  serum,  quelquefois  dans  de  bonnes  conditions,  mais 
le  plus  souvent  quelques  heures  seulement  avant  la  mort. 
Malgre  cela,  nous  avons  obtenu  19  gu^risons  et  14  deces, 
ce  qui  fait  une  mortalite  de  42  per  cent.,  chez  les  traites. 
Aifisi^  cTime part^  100  poiir  lOO  de  mortalite  chez  les  ?ion- 
traites ;  de  r autre,  42  per  ce^it.  chez  les  vialades  qui  ont 
recti  du  serum.  Ces  chiffres  confirment  les  resultats  que 
j'avais  obtenu  en  Chine  en  1896." 

A  long  review  of  this  curative  treatment,  fairly  hope- 
ful but  nothing  more,  is  given  in  the  Report  of  the 
Plague  Commission,  vol.  v.,  pp.  269—320.  The  Com- 
missioners are  of  opinion  that  it  ought  not  yet  to  be 
extended,  as  a  general  measure,  over  all  the  districts 
affected  with  plague ;  and  that  there  is  need  of  more 
work  in  bacteriology  before  it  can  be  thus  extended. 
"  We  desire  to  record  our  opinion  that,  though  the 
method  of  serum-therapy,  as  applied  to  plague,  has  not 
been  crowned  with  a  therapeutic  success  in  any  way 
comparable  to  that  obtained  by  the  application  of  the 
serum  method  to  the  treatment  of  diphtheria,  none  the 
less  the  method  of  serum-therapy  is  in  plague^  as  in   other 


PLAGUE  195 

infectious  diseases,   the  only  method  which  holds  forth   a 
prospect  of  ultimate  success." 

It  is  a  strange  contrast,  between  this  opinion  and 
the  statements  made  by  the  opponents  of  all  experi- 
ments on  animals.  Some  of  these  statements  will  be 
found  in  Part  IV.  of  this  book.  Happily  for  the  world, 
no  amount  of  foul  language  can  hinder  the  good  work  ; 
and,  when  we  talk  of  Empire-building,  and  of  deeds  that 
win  the  Empire,  we  rnust  reckon  bacteriology  among 
them  :  as  Lord  Curzon  did,  in  his  speech  at  Calcutta, 
March  3,  1899 — What  is  this  medical  science  we  bring 
to  you  ?  It  is  built  on  the  bed-rock  of  pure  irrefutable 
science ;  it  is  a  boon  which  is  offered  to  all,  rich  and  poor, 
Hindu  and  Mohammedan,  woman  and  man. 


IX 

TYPHOID  FEVER.      MALTA  FEVER 

Typhoid   Fever 

The  names  of  Klebs,  Eberth,  and  Koch,  are  associated 
with  the  discovery,  in  1 880-81,  of  the  bacillus  of 
enteric  fever,  bacillus  typhosus ;  and  it  was  obtained  in 
pure  culture  by  Gaffky  in  1884.  It  has  been  studied 
from  every  point  of  view,  in  man  and  in  animals  ;  in 
the  blood,  tissues,  and  excretions ;  in  earth,  air,  water, 
milk,  and  food ;  in  its  distribution,  methods  of  growth, 
and  chemical  products.  Especially,  the  study  of  its 
chemical  products  has  been  directed  toward  (i)  im- 
munisation against  the  disease,  (2)  bacteriological  diag- 
nosis of  the  disease  at  an  early  stage. 

The  date  of  the  first  protective  inoculations  against 
typhoid  is  July  to  August  1896:  they  were  made  at 
Netley  Hospital,  by  Professor  Wright  and  Surgeon- 
Major  Semple.  The  first  inoculations  in  Germany, 
made  by  Pfeiffer  and  KoUe,  were  pubhshed  two  months 
later.  The  story  of  these  famous  Netley  inoculations 
is  told  in  the  British  Medical  Journal,  30th  January 
1897.      Eighteen  men  offered  themselves — 

"  A  good  deal  of  fever  was  developed  in  all  cases,  and 
sleep  was  a  good  deal  disturbed.  These  constitutional 
symptoms  had  to  a  great  extent  passed  away  by  the 
morning,  and  laboratory  work  went  on  without  interrup- 
tion. .  .  .  With   two  exceptions,   all   these   vaccinations 

196 


TYPHOID    FEVER  197 

were  performed  upon  Medical  Officers  of  the  Army  or 
Indian  Medical  Services,  or  upon  Surgeons  on  Probation 
who  were  preparing  to  enter  those  services." 

Good  luck  attend  all  eighteen  of  them,  and  im- 
munity against  typhoid,  wherever  they  are.  The  doses 
that  they  received  were  estimated  in  proportion  to  the 
dose  that  would  kill  a  guinea-pig  of  350-400  grammes 
weight ;  and  the  protective  fluid  contained  no  living 
bacilli  : — 

"  The  advantages  which  are  associated  with  the  use  of 
such  '  dead  vaccines '  are,  first,  that  there  is  absolutely 
no  risk  of  producing  actual  typhoid  fever  by  our  inocula- 
tions; secondly,  that  the  vaccines  may  be  handled  and 
distributed  through  the  post  without  incurring  any  risk 
of  disseminating  the  germs  of  the  disease ;  thirdly,  that 
dead  vaccines  are  probably  less  subject  to  undergo  altera- 
tions in  their  strength  than  living  vaccines." 

The  first  use  of  the  vaccine  during  an  outbreak  of 
typhoid  was  in  October  1897,  at  the  Kent  County 
Lunatic  Asylum.  The  treatment  was  offered  to  any  of 
the  working  staff  who  desired  it : — 

"  All  the  medical  staff,  and  a  number  of  attendants, 
accepted  the  offer.  Not  one  of  those  vaccinated — 84  in 
number — contracted  typhoid  fever  :  while  of  those  unvac- 
cinated  and  living  under  similar  conditions^  16  were 
attacked.  This  is  a  significant  fact,  though  it  should 
in  fairness  be  stated  that  the  water  was  boiled  after  a 
certain  date,  and  other  precautions  were  taken,  so  that 
the  vaccination  cannot  be  said  to  be  altogether  respon- 
sible for  the  immunity.  Still,  the  figures  are  striking." 
{Lancet,  19th  March  1898;  see  also  Dr.  Tew's  paper,  in 
Public  Health,  AY>n\  1898.) 

Certainly,  they  are  striking  ;  so  is  the  story  of  the 
eight  young  subalterns  on   the  Khartoum  expedition,  of 


198  EXPERIMENTS   ON   ANIMALS 

whom  six  were  vaccinated,  and  two  took  their  chance. 
The  six  escaped  typhoid,  the  two  were  attacked  by  it, 
and  one  died.  But  these  figures  are  too  small  to  be  of 
much  value. 

The  first  anti-typhoid  inoculations  on  a  large  scale 
were  made  among  British  troops  in  India  (Bangalore, 
Rawal  Pindi,  Lucknow),  when  the  Plague  Commission, 
of  which  Professor  Wright  was  a  member,  was  in 
India,  November  1898  to  March  1899.  These  inocu- 
lations were  voluntary,  at  private  cost,  and  without 
official  sanction ;  though  the  original  proposal  for  them, 
in  1897,  had  come  from  the  Indian  Government. 
Pending  official  sanction,  they  were  stopped.  Then, 
on  25th  May  1899,  ^^^  Indian  Government  made 
application  to  the  Secretary  of  State  for  India  that 
they  should  be  sanctioned,  and  should  be  made  at  the 
public  cost.      The  application  is  as  follows  : — 

*'  The  annual  admissions  /)er  viille  for  enteric  fever 
amongst  British  troops  in  India  have  risen  from  18.5  in 
1890  to  32.4  in  1897,  while  the  death-rate  has  increased 
from  4.01  to  9.01 ;  and  we  are  of  opinion  that  every 
practicable  means  should  be  tried  to  guard  against  the 
ravages  made  by  this  disease.  The  anti-typhoid  inocu- 
lations have  been,  we  believe,  on  a  sufficiently  large  scale 
to  show  the  actual  value  of  the  treatment,  while  the 
results  appear  to  afford  satisfactory  proof  that  the  inocu- 
lations, when  properly  carried  out,  afford  an  immunity 
equal  to  or  greater  than  that  obtained  by  a  person  who 
has  undergone  an  attack  of  the  disease ;  further,  the 
operation  is  one  which  does  not  cause  any  risk  to  health. 
In  these  circumstances,  we  are  very  strongly  of  opinion 
that  a  more  extended  trial  should  be  made  of  the  treat- 
ment ;  and  we  trust  that  your  Lordship  will  permit  us  to 
approve  the  inoculation,  at  the  public  expense,  of  all 
British  officers  and  soldiers  who  may  voluntarily  submit 
themselves  to  the  operation." 


TYPHOID    FEVER 


199 


On  1st  August,  the  Secretary  of  State  for  India 
announced  in  Parliament  that  this  treatment,  at  the 
pubhc  expense,  had  been  sanctioned. 

On  20th  January  1900,  Professor  Wright  pubhshed 
in  the  British  Medical  Journal  an  account  of  these 
1898—99  inoculations  in  India.  ''They  were  under- 
taken under  conditions  which  were  very  far  from  ideal. 
In  particular,  there  is  reason  to  suppose  that  the  results 
obtained  may  have  been  unfavourably  influenced  by  a 
weakening  of  the  vaccine,  brought  about  by  repeated 
re-sterilisation."  In  no  case  was  reinoculation  done. 
The  statistics  were  compiled  from  information  furnished 
by  officers  of  the  Royal  Army  Medical  Corps  actually  in 
charge  of  troops  in  the  various  stations  ;  and  were  sup- 
plemented by  reports  received  from  the  commanding 
officers  of  the  various  inoculated  regiments.  They  are 
as  follows  : — 


Numbers  under 
Observation. 

Cases. 

Deaths. 

Percentage 
of  Cases. 

Percentage 
of  Deaths. 

Inoculated    .     2835 
Uninoculated     8460 

27 
213 

5 
23 

0.95 
2.5 

0.2 
0.34 

If  the  inoculated  had  been  attacked  equally  with  the 
uninoculated  throughout  the  period  of  observation,  they 
would  have  had  71  cases  instead  of  27. 

These  inoculations  belong  to  the  early  part  of  1899. 
During  the  rest  of  the  year,  inoculations  were  made  in 
India,  Egypt,  and  Malta :  the  results  are  given  in  an 
appendix  to  the  Report  of  the  Royal  Army  Medical 
Department,  1899.  (See  British  Medical  Journal ^  2ist 
September  190 1.)  The  great  majority  of  the  troops 
tabulated   were   in   India.      Of  the   troops   stationed   at 


200  EXPERIMENTS   ON    ANIMALS 

Malta,  6 1  were  inoculated,  2456  not  inoculated;  among 
the  former  there  were  no  cases,  among  the  latter  there 
were  17  cases  and  5  deaths.  In  Egypt,  of  4835 
troops,  461  were  inoculated;  among  these  there  were 
no  cases,  among  the  uninoculated  there  were  30  cases 
and  7  deaths.  In  India,  of  30,353  troops,  4502  were 
inoculated,  leaving  25,851  not  inoculated;  among  the 
inoculated  there  were  44  cases  and  9  deaths,  among 
the  non-inoculated  657  cases  and  146  deaths.  Taking 
the  Indian  statistics,  and  estimating  percentage  to 
strength,  we  find,  amongst  the  inoculated,  admissions 
0.98,  deaths  0.2  ;  amongst  the  non-inoculated,  admis- 
sions 2.5,  deaths  0.56.  The  cases  which  occurred 
amongst  the  inoculated  men  were  in  the  majority  of 
instances  of  a  mild  character.  Taking  Malta,  Egypt, 
and  India  together,  it  appears  that  the  inoculated,  if 
they  had  suffered  equally  with  the  non-inoculated, 
w^ould  have  had  108  cases  and  24  deaths,  instead  of 
44  cases  and  9  deaths. 

At  the  end  of  1899,  this  treatment,  only  just  out  of 
the  hands  of  science,  was  suddenly  demanded  for  the 
protection  of  a  huge  army  at  war  in  a  country  saturated 
with  typhoid.  Still,  the  South  African  results,  and 
other  results  during  1899  to  190 1,  show  a  good 
balance  of  lives  saved.  The  following  paragraphs  give 
all  results  published  from  the  beginning  of  1900  to 
May  1902.  They  are  put  in  order  of  publication. 
Doubtless  a  few  other  reports  have  been  overlooked  in 
compilation  ;  but  the  list  includes  all  that  were  easily 
accessible. 

I.  Manchester,  England.  The  British  Medical  Journal, 
28th  April  1900,  contains  a  note  by  Dr.  Marsden, 
Medical  Superintendent  of  the  Monsall  Fever  Hospital, 
Manchester,  on  the  inoculation  of  14  out  of  22   nurses 


TYPHOID    FEVER 


201 


engaged  in  nursing  typhoid  patients.  Of  the  remaining 
8,  4  had  already  had  typhoid.  The  inoculations  were 
made  in  October  1899.  The  following  table  shows  the 
subsequent  freedom  from  typhoid  of  the  nursing  staff : — 


Year. 

Number  of 
Typhoid  Patients. 

Cases  among 
Nursing  Staff. 

1895 
1896 

.S97 
1898 

To  end  of  September  1899 
From  October  1899  to  March  1900 

229 

238 
302 
426 

163 
146 

3 
3 
4 
8 

5 
0 

2.  Ladysmithy  South  Africa.  The  Lancety  14th  July 
1900,  contains  a  short  note  by  Professor  Wright,  on 
the  distribution  of  typhoid  among  the  officers  and  men 
of  the  military  garrison,  during  the  siege  of  Ladysmith. 
The  figures  are  as  follows : — 


Number. 

No.  of 
Cases. 

Proportion 
of  Cases. 

No.  of 
Deaths. 

Proportion 
of  Deaths. 

Case- 
mortality. 

Not  inoculated 
Inoculated 

10,529 
1,705 

1489 

35 

I  in  7.07 
I  in  48.7 

329 
8 

I  in  32 
I  in  213 

I  in  4.52 
I  in  4.4 

The  wide  difference  between  the  two  groups,  as 
regards  the  incidence  of  the  disease,  is  well  marked  ; 
but  the  case-mortality  is  practically  the  same  in  each 
group.  (The  statistics  of  the  General  Hospital,  Lady- 
smith,  also  tell  in  favour  of  the  preventive  treatment : 
see  Surgeon-Major  Westcott's  letter,  British  Medical 
Journal,  20th  July  1 901,  in  answer  to  Dr.  Melville's 
letter,  British  Medical  Journal,  20th  April  190 1.) 

3.    The  Portland  Hospital :  Moddcr  River  and  Bloem- 


202  EXPERIMENTS   ON   ANIMALS 

fontein.  The  British  Medical  Journal^  lOth  November 
1900,  contains  an  account  by  Dr.  Tooth  of  the  cases 
of  typhoid  in  this  hospital.  Concerning  the  preventive 
treatment,  he  says :  *'  The  experience  of  my  colleague 
Dr.  Calverley  and  myself  may  be  of  interest,  though  we 
fear  that  the  numbers  are  too  few  for  safe  generalisation. 

"  Personnel  of  the  Portland  Hospital.  We  take  first 
the  relation  of  disease  and  inoculation  among  the 
personnel  of  the  hospital.  Twenty-four  non  -  com- 
missioned officers,  orderlies,  and  servants  of  the  Port- 
land Hospital,  and  4  of  the  medical  staff,  were  inoculated 
on  the  voyage  out.  All  these  showed  the  local  symp- 
toms at  the  time ;  that  is,  pain,  stiffness,  and  local 
erythema  ;  1 7  also  presented  well-marked  constitutional 
symptoms — general  feeling  of  illness,  fever,  and  head- 
ache. Of  the  orderlies,  9  had  enteric  fever  sub- 
sequently. Two  had  refused  inoculation,  and  both  of 
these  had  the  disease  very  severely  ;  in  fact  one  died. 
Of  the  inoculated  cases,  5  had  the  disease  lightly,  and 
2  fairly  severely.  One  of  the  sisters  had  the  disease 
rather  severely,  and  she  had  not  been  inoculated. 

"  Officers  and  men  admitted  to  the  Portland  Hospital, 
We  had  under  treatment  at  the  Portland  Hospital  231 
cases  of  enteric  fever,  most  of  which  came  under  our 
care  at  Bloemfontein.  We  have  not  included  in  these 
figures  a  number  of  patients  who  came  in  convalescent 
for  a  short  time  only,  and  on  their  way  to  the  base,  and 
who  would  therefore  appear  in  the  admission  and  dis- 
charge book  of  the  hospital.  If  we  did  so,  of  course 
our  percentages  would  be  lower.  Of  these  231 
patients,  53  had  been  inoculated  at  home  or  on  the 
voyage  out,  and  of  them  3  died,  making  a  percentage 
of  deaths  among  the  inoculated  of  5.6  per  cent.  ;  178 
had   not  been   inoculated,  of  whom  2  5    died  ;   that  is,  a 


TYPHOID   FEVER  203 

mortality  among  the  non-inoculated  of  14  per  cent. 
The  general  mortality  in  enteric  fever  with  us  was  28 
deaths  out  of  231  cases;  that  is,  12.1  percent.,  which 
seems  to  compare  favourably  with  the  experience  of  the 
London  hospitals. 

"  It  is  interesting  to  record  our  experience  among 
the  ofiicers  taken  separately.  Thirty-three  officers  were 
admitted  with  enteric  fever ;  2 1  had  been  inoculated  ; 
that  is,  6^.6  per  cent.;  a  much  larger  percentage  than 
among  the  men.  Only  one  of  these  officers  died,  and 
he  had  not  been  inoculated. 

"  These  figures  are  small,  but  such  as  they  are  they 
are  significant,  and  they  dispose  us  to  look  with  favour 
upon  inoculation.  So  also  does  our  clinical  experience 
with  our  patients,  for  among  the  inoculated  the  disease 
seemed  to  run  a  milder  course." 

4.  No.  9  Genei'al  Hospital^  Bloemfontein.  The  Medical 
Chronicle  for  January  190 1  contains  an  account,  by 
Dr.  J.  W.  Smith,  of  the  work  of  this  hospital.  He  says  : 
"  The  general  impression  amongst  the  medical  officers 
in  our  hospital  was  that  a  single  inoculation  probably 
did  not  confer  an  immunity  lasting  very  long — the 
lapse  of  time  differing  in  individuals — and  also  that 
there  was  a  tendency  in  the  cases  of  enteric  in  in- 
oculated patients  to  abort  at  the  end  of  ten  or  fourteen 
days.  I  should  say,  however,  that  a  very  considerable 
number  of  our  detachment  who  had  been  inoculated 
suffered  from  enteric,  of  whom  4  at  least  died.  Of  the 
medical  staff,  the  only  member  of  the  junior  staff  who 
had  not  been  inoculated  died  of  enteric." 

5.  Scottish  National  Red  Cross  Hospital ,  Kroonstadt. 
The  British  Medical  Journal,  12th  January  1 90 1, 
contains  an  account  of  the  work  of  this  hospital  by 
Surgeon-Colonel   Cayley,  Officer  in  Charge.      He  says  : 


204  EXPERIMENTS   ON   ANIMALS 

"The  first  section  of  the  hospital,  consisting  of  6i 
persons — officers,  nursing  sisters,  and  establishment — 
left  Southampton  on  21st  April  1900.  During  the 
voyage  out,  all  except  4  were  inoculated  twice,  at  an 
interval  of  about  ten  days ;  2  were  inoculated  once  ; 
and  2  (who  had  had  typhoid)  were  not  inoculated. 
Immediately  we  reached  the  Cape,  the  hospital  was 
sent  up  to  Kroonstadt  in  the  Orange  River  Colony,  and 
remained  there  as  a  stationary  hospital  till  the  middle 
of  October.  During  this  period  there  were  always 
many  cases  of  enteric  under  treatment  in  hospital. 
Further,  some  of  the  medical  officers  and  student 
orderlies  had  charge  of  the  Kroonstadt  Hotel  temporary 
hospital,  which  was  crowded  up  with  enteric  cases  ;  and 
the  nursing  sisters,  for  three  weeks,  did  duty  in  the 
military  hospitals  at  Bloemfontein  in  May  and  June, 
when  enteric  fever  was  at  its  worst.  There  was  not  a 
single  case  of  enteric  among  the  personnel  of  this  first 
section  of  the  hospital. 

*'  The  second  section  of  the  hospital — medical  officers, 
nurses,  and  establishment,  82  in  all — left  Southampton 
in  May  1900.  On  board  ship  nearly  all  of  them  were 
inoculated,  but  many  of  them  only  once.  The  material 
for  inoculation  had  been  on  board  for  some  time,  and 
was  not  so  fresh  as  in  the  first  instance.  Of  this 
second  section,  i  nurse  had  enteric  at  Kroonstadt. 
She  was  the  only  one,  out  of  a  total  of  36  nurses,  who 
suffered  from  enteric  ;  and  she  was  the  only  nurse  who 
was  not  inoculated,  excepting  the  2  who  were  protected 
by  a  previous  attack  of  enteric.  A  third  section  of  the 
hospital,  consisting  of  4  medical  officers  and  16  nurses, 
went  out  in  July ;  they  were  all  inoculated,  and  none  of 
them  had  enteric. 

"  Of  the  second  section,  5  orderlies  had  enteric  fever 


TYPHOID    FEVER 


205 


at  Kroonstadt,  of  whom  2  died.  Of  these  5,  there 
were  2  inoculated  (once)  and  3  non-inoculated.  Of  the 
2  who  died,  i  had  been  once  inoculated,  the  other  had 
not  been  inoculated." 

6.  Mccruty  India.  The  British  Medical  Journal,  9th 
February  1 90 1 ,  gives  a  short  note  by  Professor  Wright 
on  inoculations  in  the  15th  Hussars.  He  says: 
'*  Through  the  kindness  of  Lieutenant  -  General  Sir 
George  Luck,  commanding  the  Bengal  Army,  I  am 
permitted  to  publish  the  following  officially  compiled 
statistics,  dealing  with  the  effects  of  anti-typhoid  inocula- 
tions in  the  case  of  the  15th  Hussars: — 

From  12nd  October  1899  to  iind  October  1900. 


• 

•6 

■a 

4= 

V 

ui 

V 

s 

1m 

3 
0 
0 

0 

rt 
Q 

0^ 

0 

rt 

u 

m 

B 

c 

l-H 

Officers . 

22 

19 

0 

0 

3 

0 

0 

N.C.O.  and  Men    . 

4S1 

317 

2 

I 

164 

II 

6 

Women . 

36 

24 

0 

0 

12 

0 

0 

It  would  thus  appear  that  the  incidence  of  enteric  in  the 
inoculated  was  represented  by  0.55  per  cent.,  and  the 
mortality  by  0.27  per  cent.;  while  the  incidence  in 
the  uninoculated  was  6.14  per  cent.,  and  the  death-rate 
3.35  per  cent." 

If  the  inoculated  had  suffered  equally  with  the  unin- 
oculated, they  would  have  had  22  cases  with  i  i  deaths, 
instead  of  2  cases  with  i  death. 

7.  The  Edinburgh  Hospital,  South  Africa.  The  Scottish 
Medical  and  Surgical  Journal,  March  1 901,  contains 
an  account  of  the  work  of  the  Edinburgh  Hospital,  by 
Dr.  Francis  Boyd.  Of  the  staff,  58  were  inoculated 
(27  once,  and  31  twice).      Among  these  58,  there  were 


206 


EXPERIMENTS   ON   ANIMALS 


9  cases  of  typhoid  fever,  with  i  death,  in  a  patient 
who  had  old  mitral  disease.  "Our  experience  has  been 
that,  while  inoculation  appears  to  modify  the  disease, 
completely  modified  attacks  are  met  with  in  the  unin- 
oculated.  Again,  very  severe  attacks,  wnth  complica- 
tions and  relapse,  occur  in  those  who  have  been 
inoculated.  One  cannot  from  this  conclude  that  in- 
oculation has  been  valueless,  for  had  not  the  patient 
been  inoculated,  the  attack  might  have  been  still  more 
severe." 

8.  Egypt  and  Cyprus.  The  British  Medical  Journaly 
4th  May  1 90 1,  gives  a  short  note  by  Professor  Wright 
on  inoculations  during  1901  in  Egypt  and  Cyprus.  He 
says  :  ''  I  am  indebted  to  the  kindness  of  Colonel  W.  J. 
Fawcett,  R.A.M.C.,  Principal  Medical  Officer  in  Egypt, 
for  the  following  statistics  dealing  with  the  incidence 
of  enteric  fever,  and  the  mortality  from  the  disease, 
for  the  year  1900,  in  the  inoculated  and  uninoculated 
among  the  British  troops  in  Egypt  and  Cyprus  : — 


Average  Annual 
Strength. 

Cases. 

Deaths. 

Percentage 
of  Cases. 

Percentage 
of  Deaths. 

Uninoculated  . 
Inoculated 

2669 
720 

68 

I 

10 

I 

2.50 
0.14 

0.40 
0.14 

These  figures  testify  to  a  nineteen-fold  reduction  in  the 
number  of  attacks  of  enteric  fever,  and  to  a  threefold 
reduction  in  the  number  of  deaths  from  that  disease, 
among  the  inoculated.  .  .  .  The  only  case  which  oc- 
curred among  the  inoculated  was  that  of  a  patient 
admitted  to  hospital  on  the  thirty-third  day  after  in- 
oculation. It  would  seem  that  the  disease  was  in  this 
case  contracted  before  anything  in  the  nature  of  protec- 
tion had  been  established  by  the  inoculation." 


TYPHOID    FEVER  207 

9.  Imperial  Yeomanry  Hospital,  Pretoria,  Dr.  Rol- 
leston,  Consulting  Physician  to  this  hospital,  writes  in 
the  British  Medical  Journal,  5  th  October  1901  :  "Among 
the  personnel  of  the  hospital  (17  medical  officers,  50 
nursing  sisters,  83  orderlies,  etc.),  total,  150,  there 
were  22  cases  of  enteric  fever,  or  an  incidence  of  14.6 
per  cent.  Of  the  150,  35  were  inoculated,  and  of 
these,  6,  or  17  per  cent.,  suffered  from  enteric  ;  while, 
of  115  non-inoculated  members  of  \he  personnel,  16,  or 
13.9  per  cent.,  suffered  from  enteric  fever;  the  per- 
centage is  therefore  higher  among  the  inoculated. 
There  were  2  deaths,  both  in  non-inoculated  patients. 
In  100  cases  of  enteric  fever  among  non-commis- 
sioned officers  and  men,  taken  mainly  from  convalescent 
patients,  only  8  had  been  previously  inoculated  ;  there 
were  3  fatal  cases,  all  among  non-inoculated  patients. 
Among  42  officers  who  had  enteric,  no  fewer  than  19 
had  been  previously  inoculated  ;  6  of  these  19  cases 
were  severe  in  character,  but  none  were  fatal ;  of  the 
23  non-inoculated  cases,  7  were  severe,  and  of  these  7, 
3  ended  fatally.  The  interval  between  inoculation  and 
the  subsequent  incidence  of  enteric  fever  varied  between 
one  and  twenty-one  months,  but  in  only  four  instances 
was  the  interval  less  than  six  months.  The  average 
interval  between  inoculation  and  the  onset  of  enteric 
fever  in  these  19  cases  was  thirty-eight  weeks. 

"  As  far  as  these  scanty  figures  go,  they  point  to  the 
conclusion  (i)  that  anti-typhoid  inoculation  does  not 
absolutely  protect  against  a  future  attack  of  typhoid 
fever  ;  (2)  that  when  enteric  occurs  in  an  inoculated 
person,  there  is,  as  a  rule,  an  interval  of  about  six 
months ;  (3)  that  inoculation  protects  against  a  fatal 
termination  to  the  disease." 

I  o.   Richmond  Asylum,  Dublin,      The  British  Medical 


208 


EXPERIMENTS   ON    ANIMALS 


Journal,  26th  October  1901,  contains  a  note  by  Pro- 
fessor Wright  on  an  outbreak  of  typhoid  in  this  asylum 
during  August  to  December  1900.  Inoculations  were 
begun  on  6th  September,  by  Dr.  Cullinan,  and  by  30th 
November  511  persons  were  inoculated.  After  careful 
criticism  of  all  doubtful  cases,  Professor  Wright  gives 
the  following  figures  : — 

Comparative  Incidence  of  Typhoid  Fever  in  Inoculated  and  Non- 
Inoculated,  calculated  upon  the  ai'erage  strength  of  the  repre- 
sejitative  groups  during  the  period  ijitervening  between  the 
coni7ne?icenie7it  of  the  i?ioculations  a?id  the  termination  of  the 
epidemic. 


Average 
Strength. 

Cases. 

Deaths. 

Percentage 
of  Cases. 

Percentage 
of  Deaths. 

Uninoculated  . 
Inoculated 

298 

339 

3o(-i?) 
5(  +  i?) 

4 

I 

10. 1 

1-3 

1-3 

0.3 

^'  It  may  be  noted,"  he  says,  "  that  the  result  is  in 
conformity  with  that  of  all  the  statistical  returns  of 
anti-typhoid  inoculation  which  have  reached  me." 

II.  Deelfontein.  The  Lancet,  i8th  January  1902, 
contains  a  paper  by  Dr.  Washbourn  and  Dr.  Andrew 
Elliot,  on  262  cases  of  typhoid  fever  in  the  Imperial 
Yeomanry  Hospital  at  Deelfontein  during  the  year 
March  1900  to  March  1901.  (See  Dr.  Washbourn's 
earlier  letter,  Brit.  Med.  Jour. ,  i6th  June  1900.)  They 
say :  "In  211  of  our  cases,  it  was  definitely  recorded 
whether  the  patient  had  been  inoculated  or  not  :  186 
of  these  cases  had  not  been  inoculated,  with  20  deaths, 
or  a  mortality  of  10.7  per  cent.;  25  had  been  inocu- 
lated, with  4  deaths,  or  a  mortality  of  16  per  cent.  The 
mortality  was  thus  higher  among  the  inoculated  than 
among  the  non-inoculated."  Of  the  personnel  of  the 
hospital,  there  were  59  inoculated,  with  4  cases,  and 
25  not  inoculated,  with  4  cases. 


TYPHOID    FEVER 


209 


12.  IViuburg.  The  Lancet,  5th  April  1902,  con- 
tains a  short  note  by  Professor  Wright,  on  the  5  th 
Battahon,  Manchester  Regiment.  He  says  :  "  In  view 
of  the  dearth  of  statistics  bearing  on  the  incidence  of 
typhoid  fever  in  South  Africa  in  inoculated  and  unin- 
oculated  persons  respectively,  the  following,  for  which 
I  am  indebted  to  Lieutenant  J.  W.  West,  R.A.M.C., 
Winburg,  Orange  River  Colony,  may  not  be  entirely 
without  interest.  The  -statistics  here  in  question  give 
the  results  obtained  in  the  case  of  the  5  th  Battalion, 
Manchester  Regiment,  for  the  six  months  which  have 
elapsed  since  their  landing  in  South  Africa.  The 
figures,  which  relate  to  a  total  strength  of  747  men 
and   officers   under  observation,   are  as   follows  : — 


Number. 

Cases. 

Deaths. 

Percentage 
of  Cases. 

Percentage 
of  Deaths. 

Uninoculated   . 
Inoculated  .     . 

547 
200 

23 

3 

7 
0 

4.2 
1-5 

0 

"  The  three  attacks  in  the  inoculated  are  reported 
to  have  been  of  exceptionally  mild  t3'pe,  contrasting 
in  a  striking  manner  with  the  severe  attacks  which 
occurred  in  the  uninoculated.  At  the  time  of  sending 
in  the  report,  some  of  the  uninoculated  patients  were 
*  not  yet  out  of  danger.'  " 


Certainly,  these  instances  show  a  good  balance  of 
lives  saved,  not  only  under  the  adverse  conditions  of 
the  war,  but  also  in  Eg3^pt,  India,  and  the  United 
Kingdom.  But  the  bacteriological  work  on  typhoid 
fever  has   been   directed   also   to   the  working  out  of  a 

O 


210  EXPERIMENTS   ON    ANIMALS 

very  different  problem :  and  that  is  the  method  of 
diagnosis  which  is  called  "  Widal's  reaction."  The 
practical  uses  of  this  reaction  are  of  the  utmost  import- 
ance. It  is  the  outcome  of  work  in  different  parts  of 
the  world — by  Wright  and  Semple  and  Durham  in  Eng- 
land, Chantemesse  and  Widal  in  France,  Pfeif^er  and 
Kolle  and  Griiber  in  Germany,  and  many  more.  The 
first  systematic  study  of  it  was  made  by  Durham  and 
Pfeiffer ;  and  Widal's  name  is  especially  associated 
with  the  application  of  their  work  to  the  uses  of  prac- 
tice. Admirable  accounts  of  the  whole  subject  are 
given  by  Dr.  Cabot  in  his  book,  TJie  Serum-Diagnosis 
of  Disease  (Longmans,  1899),  and  b}^  Mr.  Foulerton 
in  the  Middlesex  Hospital  Journal ^  October  1899  and 
July   1 90 1. 

Widal's  reaction  is  surely  one  of  the  fairy  tales  of 
science.  The  bacteriologist  works  not  with  anything 
so  gross  as  a  drop  of  blood,  but  with  a  drop  of  blood 
fifty  or  more  times  diluted  ;  one  drop  of  this  dilution  is 
enough  for  his  purpose.  Take,  for  instance,  an  obscure 
case  suspected  to  be  typhoid  fever :  a  drop  of  blood 
taken  from  the  finger  is  diluted  fifty  or  more  times,  that 
the  perfect  delicacy  of  the  test  may  be  ensured  ;  a  drop 
of  this  dilution  is  mixed  with  a  drop  of  nutrient  fluid 
containing  living  typhoid  bacilli,  and  a  drop  of  this 
mixture  of  blood  and  bacilli  is  watched  under  the 
microscope  : — 

"  The  motility  of  the  bacilli  is  instantaneously  or 
very  quickly  arrested,  and  in  a  few  minutes  the  bacilli 
begin  to  aggregate  together  into  clumps,  and  by  the  end 
of  the  half-hour  there  will  be  very  few  isolated  bacilli 
visible.  In  less  marked  cases,  the  motility  of  the  bacilli 
does  not  cease  for  some  minutes ;  while  in  the  least 
marked  ones  the  motility  of  the  bacilli   may  never  be 


MALTA    FEVER  211 

completely  arrested,  but  they  are  always  more  or  less 
sluggish,  while  clumping  ought  to  be  quite  distinct  by 
the  end  of  the  half-hour." 

The  result  of  this  clumping  is  also  plainly  visible 
to  the  naked  eye,  by  the  subsidence  of  the  agglutinated 
bacteria  to  the  bottom  of  the  containing  vessel  :  and 
thus  an  easy  practical  mode  of  diagnosis  is  afforded 
by  it. 

As  with  typhoid,  so  with  Malta  fever,  cholera,  and 
some  other  infective  diseases.  And  the  unimaginable 
fineness  of  this  reaction  goes  far  beyond  the  time  of 
the  disease.  Months,  even  years,  after  recover}''  from 
typhoid,  a  fiftieth  part  of  a  drop  of  the  blood  will  still 
give  Widal's  reaction  :  and  it  has  been  obtained  in  an 
infant  whose  mother  had  t3^phoid  before  it  was  born. 
A  drop  of  dried  blood,  from  a  case  suspected  to  be 
typhoid,  may  be  sent  a  hundred  miles  by  post  to  be 
tested  ;  and  typhoid,  like  diphtheria,  may  now  be  sub- 
mitted to  the  judgment  of  an  expert  far  away,  and  the 
answer  telegraphed  back.  It  would  be  difficult  to  ex- 
aggerate the  practical  importance  of  this  reaction  for 
the  early  diagnosis  of  cases  of  typhoid  fever,  especially 
those  cases  that  appear,  at  the  onset,  not  severe. 


Malta   Fever 


The  specific  organism  of  Malta  fever  (Mediterranean 
fever),  the  bacillus  Mclitensis,  was  discovered  in  1887  by 
Surgeon-Major  David  Bruce,  of  the  Army  Medical  Staff. 
Its  nature  and  action  were  proved  by  the  inoculation  of 
monkeys.  The  use  of  Widal's  reaction  is  of  great  value 
in  this  disease  : — 


212  EXPERIMENTS   ON    ANIMALS 

"  The  diagnosis  of  Malta  fever  from  typhoid  is,  of 
course,  a  highly  important  practical  matter.  It  is  ex- 
ceedingly difficult  in  the  early  stages."  (Manson,  loc. 
ctt.) 

As  with  typhoid,  so  with  Malta  fever,  Netley  led  the 
way  to  the  discovery  of  an  immunising  serum.  In  the 
course  of  the  work,  one  of  the  discoverers  was  by  acci- 
dent infected  with  the  disease : — 

"  He  was  indisposed  when  he  went  to  Maidstone  to 
undertake  anti-typhoid  vaccination,  and  after  fighting 
against  his  illness  for  some  days,  he  was  obliged  to 
return  to  Netley  on  9th  October.  Examination  of  blood- 
serum  (Widal's  reaction)  showed  that  he  was  suffering 
from  Malta  fever.  It  appears  that  he  had  scratched  his 
hand  with  a  hypodermic  needle  on  17th  September, 
when  immunising  a  horse  for  the  preparation  of  serum- 
protective  against  Malta  fever ;  and  his  blood,  when 
examined,  had  a  typical  reaction  on  the  micrococcus  of 
Malta  fever  in  lOOO-fold  dilution.  The  horse,  which  has 
been  immunised  for  Malta  fever  for  the  last  eight  months, 
was  immediately  bled,  and  we  are  informed  that  the 
patient  has  now  had  two  injections,  each  of  30  cub.  cm. 
of  the  serum.  He  is  doing  well,  and  it  is  hoped  that  the 
attack  has  been  cut  short."  {British  Medical  Jojirnalj 
i6th  October  1897.) 

About  fifty  cases  had  up  to  September  1899  been 
treated  at  Netley  "  with  marked  benefit :  whereas  they 
found  that  all  drug-treatment  failed,  the  antitoxin  treat- 
ment had  been  generally  successful."  ^  A  good  instance 
of  the  value  of  the  serum-treatment  of  Malta  fever  is 
published   in  the  Lancet,  15th  April  1899.      ^^^  ^  ^^^er 

1  For  the  whole  subject,  see  Lancet,  9th  September  1899,  paper 
by  Surgeon-Major  Birt  and  Surgeon-Captain  Lamb.  Two  other 
cases  of  accidental  inoculation  occurred  at  Netley. 


MALTA    FEVER  213 

account   of  this   treatment  and   of  its   efficacy,  see   the 
Philadelphia  Medical  Journal,  24th  November  1900. 

Another  point  is  noted  by  Sir  Patrick  Manson,  in  his 
recent  Lane  Lectures  (Constable,  190  5).  '^  For  some 
time  back,"  he  says,  **  a  commission  of  experts,  work- 
ing under  the  direction  of  the  Royal  Society,  has  been 
studying  this  disease  in  Malta.  The  commission  has 
accumulated  much  detailed  information  ;  but  the  most 
important  observation  it  has  published  is  the  fact  that 
a  large  percentage  of  the  goats  in  Malta  are  infected 
with  Micrococcus  melitensisy  and  that  the  milk  of  the 
infected  goats  contains  the  bacterium.  May  not  this 
account  for  the  great  prevalence  of  Mediterranean  fever 
there  and  in  other  places  having  perhaps  a  similar  milk- 
supply  ?  " 


X 

THE    MOSQUITO:    MALARIA,   YELLOW 
FEVER,    FILARIASIS 

Within  the  last  few  years,  it  has  been  proved  that  the 
mosquito  is  an  intermediate  host,  between  man  and 
man,  of  malaria,  yellow  fever,  and  filariasis  (elephan- 
tiasis).^ Just  as  the  grosser  parasites,  the  tape-worms, 
must  alternate  between  man  and  certain  animals,  and 
cannot  otherwise  go  through  their  own  life-changes  and 
reproduce  their  kind,  so  the  micro-parasites  that  are  the 
cause  of  malaria  alternate  between  man  and  the  mos- 
quito, having  the  mosquito  as  an  intermediate  host. 
These  organisms,  once  they  get  into  the  mosquito,  pick 
out  certain  structures,  and  there  carry  out  a  definite 
cyclical  phase  of  their  lives,  whereby  their  progeny 
make  their  way  into  the  stylets  of  the  mosquito,  and  so 
get  back  to  man,  who  is  their  ''  definite  host."  Thus, 
malaria  is  not,  strictly  speaking,  a  disease  of  man  ;  it  is 
one  phase  in  man  of  micro-organisms  that  have  another 
phase  in  mosquitoes.  So  also  with  filariasis  ;  the 
filariae  in  man,  their  ova,  and  their  embryo-worms,  are 
one  phase  of  filariasis  ;  and  the  embryo-worms  in  cer- 
tain structures  of  the  mosquito  are  another  phase.     The 

^  For  Dr.  Graham's  experiments  at  Beyrout,  which  seem  to 
prove  that  the  mosquito  can  also  convey  dengue  or  dandy-fever, 
see  the  New  York  Medical  Record^  8th  February  1902. 

214 


MALARIA  215 

plasniodiitin  malarice  and  \\\^filaria  are  instances  of  a  law 
of  animal  life  that  holds  good  also  of  plant  life: — 

"All  plants  and  animals  possess  parasites,  and  thou- 
sands of  different  species  of  parasites  have  been  closely 
studied  by  science ;  we  therefore  know  much  about  their 
general  ways  of  life.  As  a  rule,  a  particular  species  of 
parasite  can  live  only  in  the  particular  species  of  animal 
in  which,  by  the  evolution  of  ages,  it  has  acquired  the 
power  of  living.  It  is  tjierefore  not  enough  for  the  para- 
sites of  an  individual  animal — say  a  man — to  be  able  to 
multiply  within  that  individual,  but  they  must  also  make 
arrangements,  so  to  speak,  for  their  progeny  to  enter  into 
and  infect  other  individuals  of  the  same  species.  They 
cannot  live  for  ever  in  one  individual;  they  must  spread 
in  some  way  or  other  to  other  individuals. 

**  The  shifts  made  by  parasites  to  meet  this  require- 
ment of  their  nature  are  many  and  various,  and  constitute 
one  of  the  wonders  of  nature.  Some  scatter  their  spores 
and  eggs  broadcast  in  the  soil,  water,  or  air,  as  it  were 
in  the  hope  that  some  of  them  will  alight  by  accident  on 
a  plant  or  animal  suitable  for  their  future  growth.  Many 
parasites  employ,  in  various  ways,  a  second  species  of 
animal  as  a  go-between.  Thus,  some  tape-worms,  and 
the  worms  which  cause  trichinosis,  spend  a  part  of  their 
lives  in  the  flesh  of  swine,  and  transfer  themselves  to 
human  beings  when  the  latter  eat  this  flesh.  To  com- 
plete the  cycle,  the  parasites  return  to  swine  from  human 
offal ;  so  that  they  propagate  alternately  from  men  to 
swine,  and  from  swine  to  men.  The  blood-parasites 
which  cause  the  deadly  tsetse-fly  disease  among  cattle  in 
South  Africa  are  transferred  from  one  ox  to  another  on 
the  proboscis  of  the  ox-biting  or  tsetse-fly.  The  progeny 
of  the  flukes  of  sheep  enter  a  kind  of  snail,  which  spreads 
the  parasites  upon  grass.  The  progeny  of  the  guinea- 
worm  of  man  enter  a  water-flea.  The  progeny  of  the 
parasites  which  cause  Texas  cattle-fever,  and  which  are 
very  like  the  malarial  parasites,  live  in  cattle-ticks,  and 


2i6  EXPERIMENTS   ON    ANIMALS 

are  transferred  by  the  young  of  these  ticks  into  healthy 
cattle."     {KosSf  Malarial  Fever,  1902.) 


I .   Malaria 

The  Plasmodium  malarice  was  discovered  by  Laveran 
in  1880,  in  the  blood  of  malarial  patients.  For  many 
years  his  work  stopped  there,  because  it  was  impossible 
to  find  the  Plasmodium  in  animals  :  *'  the  difficulties 
surrounding  the  subject  were  so  great  that  this  dis- 
covery seemed  to  be  almost  hopeless."  In  1894,  Sir 
Patrick  Manson — who  had  proved  mosquitoes  to  be 
the  intermediate  host  in  the  case  of  the  parasitic  nema- 
tode y?/ana — suggested,  as  a  working  theory  of  malaria, 
that  the  plasmodium  was  carried  by  mosquitoes.  This 
belief,  not  itself  new,  he  made  current  coin.  He  ob- 
served that  there  is  a  flagellate  form  of  the  plasmodium, 
which  only  comes  into  existence  after  the  blood  has 
left  the  body :  and  he  suggested  that  the  flagella  might 
develop  in  the  mosquito  as  an  intermediate  host,  a 
halfway-house  between  man  and  man.  Then,  in  1895, 
Ross  set  to  work  in  India,  keeping  and  feeding  vast 
numbers  of  mosquitoes  on  malarial  blood  ;  and  for  two 
years  without  any  conclusive  result.  About  this  time 
came  MacCallum's  observations,  at  the  Johns  Hopkins 
University,  on  a  parasitic  organism,  lialteridium,  closely 
allied  to  the  plasmodium  malariae  ;  he  showed  that  the 
flagella  of  the  halteridium  are  organs  of  impregnation, 
having  observed  that  the  non-flagellated  form,  which 
he  regarded  as  the  female,  after  receiving  one  of  the 
flagella,  changed  shape,  and  became  motile.  In  August 
1897,  Ross  found  bodies,  containing  pigment  like  that 
of  the  malarial  parasite,  in  the  outer  coat  of  the  stomach 
of  one   kind    of  mosquito,    the  grey   or   dapple-winged 


MALARIA  217 

mosquito,  Anopheles  maculipeunis^  that  had  been  fed  on 
malarial  blood.  In  February  1898,  he  was  put  on 
special  duty  under  the  Sanitary  Commissioner  with  the 
Government  of  India,  to  study  malaria,  and  started 
work  again  in  Calcutta  : — 

"  Arriving  there  at  a  non-fever  season,  he  took  up 
the  study  of  what  may  be  called  'bird  malaria.'  In 
birds,  two  parasites  have  become  well  known — (i)  the 
halteridium,  (2)  the  proteosoma  of  Labbe.  Both  have 
flagellated  forms,  and  both  are  closely  allied  to  the  Plas- 
modium malariae.  Using  grey  mosquitoes  and  proteo- 
soma-infected  birds,  Ross  showed  by  a  large  number  of 
observations  that  it  was  only  from  blood  containing  the 
proteosoma  that  pigmented  cells  in  the  grey  mosquito 
could  be  got ;  therefore  that  this  cell  is  derived  from  the 
proteosoma,  and  is  an  evolutionary  stage  of  that  parasite. 
Next,  Ross  proceeded  to  find  out  its  exact  location,  and 
found  that  it  lay  among  the  muscular  fibres  of  the  wall 
of  the  mosquito's  stomach.  It  grows  large  (40-70  micro- 
millimetres)  and  protrudes  from  the  external  surface  of 
the  stomach,  which  under  the  microscope  appears  as  if 
covered  with  minute  warts."  (]\Ianson,  at  Edinburgh 
meeting  of  British  Medical  Association,  1898.) 

These  pigmented  spherical  cells  give  issue  to  in- 
numerable swarms  of  spindle-shaped  bodies,  "  germinal 
rods "  ;  and  in  infected  mosquitoes  Ross  found  these 
rods,  in  the  glands  that  communicate  with  the  proboscis. 
Thus  the  evidence  was  complete,  that  the  plasmodium 
malarise,  like  many  other  parasites,  has  a  special  inter- 
mediate host  for  its  intermediate  stage  of  development  ; 
and  that  this  host  is  the  dapple-wanged  mosquito.  It 
is  impossible  to  over-estimate  the  infinite  delicacy  and 
difficulty  of  Ross's  w^ork ;  for  instance,  in  his  ''Ab- 
stract of  Recent  Experiments  with  Grey  Mosquitoes," 
he  says  that  "out  of  245  grey  mosquitoes  fed  on  birds 


2i8  EXPERIMENTS    ON    ANIMALS 

with  proteosoma,  178,  or  72  per  cent.,  contained  pig- 
mented cells;  out  of  249  fed  on  blood  containing 
halteridium,  immature  proteosoma,  &c.,  not  one  con- 
tained a  single  pigmented  cell."  Another  time  (April 
1898)  he  counted  these  pigment-cells  under  the  micro- 
scope : — 

**Ten  mosquitoes  fed  on  the  sparrow  with  numerous 
proteosoma  contained  1009  pigmented  cells,  or  an  average 
of  loi  each.  Ten  mosquitoes  fed  on  the  sparrow  with 
moderate  proteosoma  contained  292  pigmented  cells,  or 
an  average  of  29  each.  The  mosquitoes  fed  on  the 
sparrow  with  no  proteosoma  contained  no  pigmented 
cells." 

Finally,  he  completed  the  circle  of  development  by 
infecting  healthy  sparrows  by  causing  mosquitoes  to 
bite  them. 

In  1899,  there  went  out  a  German  Commission  to 
German  East  Africa,  a  Royal  Society's  Commission  to 
British  Central  Africa,  and  an  expedition  from  the 
Liverpool  School  of  Tropical  Medicine  ;  in  1900, 
another  German  Commission,  this  time  to  the  East 
Indies,  and  another  expedition  from  the  Liverpool 
School;  by  July  1901,  the  Liverpool  School  was 
organising  its  seventh  expedition.  Italy,  of  course,  has 
given  infinite  study  to  the  disease  : — 

"  It  has  been  decided  that,  in  addition  to  the  stations 
of  observation  and  experiment  in  the  provinces  of  Rome, 
Milan,  Cremona,  Mantua,  Gercara,  Foggia,  Lecce,  others 
shall  be  established  in  the  provinces  of  Udine,  Verona, 
Vicenza,  Padua,  Ravenna,  Pisa,  Basilicata,  and  Syracuse. 
Besides  epidemiological  researches,  applications  on  a 
large  scale  will  be  made  of  preventive  measures  for  the 
protection  of  the  agricultural  population  against  the 
scourge.     Another  extensive  experiment  on  the  prophy- 


MALARIA  219 

laxis  of  malaria  will  be  made  on  the  Emilian  littoral. 
Moreover,  in  all  the  malarious  regions  of  the  Italian 
peninsula  the  provincial  and  communal  administrations 
and  many  private  persons  will  co-operate  in  the  appli- 
cation of  preventive  measures.  From  all  this  it  may  be 
gathered  that  during  the  summer  and  autumn  the  war 
against  malaria  will  be  carried  on  in  Italy  with  great 
vigour  and  thoroughness."  {British  Medical  Journal , 
6th  July  1901.) 

In  India,  the  work  started  in  1900  by  the  Royal 
Society  Commissioners,  and  by  the  Nagpur  Conference, 
has  been  widel}"  extended  :  especialh'  by  such  researches 
as  those  of  Major  Buchanan,  I. M.S.,  Superintendent  of 
the  Central  Jail,  Nagpur.  The  following  paragraph, 
from  the  report  of  the  Sanitar}'  Commissioner  with  the 
Government  of  India,  refers  to  Major  Buchanan's 
published  work.  Malarial  Fevers  and  Malarial  Parasites 
in  India  : — 

"A  remarkable  note  is  struck  at  the  outset,  in  the 
acknowledgment  made,  by  the  author,  of  the  capable 
assistance  rendered  in  these  researches  b}'  several  of  his 
Burmese  prisoners,  whom  he  trained  to  the  use  of  the 
microscope,  and  who  soon  became  expert  in  detecting 
and  distinguishing  the  various  kinds  of  parasites.  .  .  . 
Besides  a  systematic  clinical  account  of  the  different 
forms  of  fever  and  the  associated  parasites,  which  is 
the  first  attempt  of  the  kind  in  India,  there  are  a 
summary  of  the  facts  showing  the  relation  of  the 
seasonal  prevalence  of  Anopheles  to  the  incidence  of 
attacks;  experiments  exhibiting  the  protective  effects  of 
mosquito-curtains  ;  inoculation-experiments ;  researches 
on  the  blood-parasites  of  birds  ;  and  many  other 
points.  .  .  .  Nor  can  we  pause  to  notice  the  many 
attempts  now  being  made  by  health  officers  and  others 
to  pursue  the  methods  of  prophylaxis  indicated  ;  these 
efforts  are  necessarily  in  the  tentative  stage,  but,  so  far, 


220  EXPERIMENTS    ON    ANIMALS 

and  especially  where  carried  out  in  connection  with  small 
communities  and  institutions,  they  are  giving  promise  of 
gratifying  success." 

The  famous  experiment  made  by  Dr.  Sambon  and 
Dr.  Low  in  1 900,  must  be  recalled  here  : — 

"  Dr.  Luigi  Sambon  and  Dr.  G.  C.  Low,  both  con- 
nected with  the  London  School  of  Tropical  Medicine, 
volunteered  to  live  from  June  till  October,  that  is  to  say, 
through  what  may  be  called  the  height  of  the  malaria 
season,  in  a  part  of  the  Campagna  near  Ostia,  which  is 
so  infested  by  the  disease  that  no  one  who  spends  a 
night  there  under  ordinary  conditions  escapes  the  effect 
of  the  poison.  Dr.  Sambon,  Dr.  Low,  Signor  Terzi,  and 
their  servants,  have  now  exposed  themselves  to  the 
pestilential  influence  of  this  valley  of  the  shadow  of 
death  for  over  two  months.  They  live  in  a  mosquito- 
proof  hut ;  they  take  no  quinine  or  other  drug  which 
might  be  regarded  as  prophylactic.  Not  one  of  the  ex- 
perimenting party  has  the  least  sign  of  infection.^  .  .  . 

^  Sir  Patrick  Manson,  in  the  British  Medical  Journal,  29th 
September  1900,  gives  the  following  account  of  this  experiment : — 
"A  wooden  hut,  constructed  in  England,  was  shipped  to  Italy 
and  erected  in  the  Roman  Campagna,  at  a  spot  ascertained  by 
Dr.  L.  Sambon,  after  careful  inquiry,  to  be  intensely  malarial, 
where  the  permanent  inhabitants  all  suffer  from  malarial  cachexia, 
and  where  the  field-labourers,  who  come  from  healthy  parts  of  Italy 
to  reap  the  harvest,  after  a  short  time  all  contract  fever.  This 
fever-haunted  spot  is  in  the  King  of  Italy's  hunting-ground  near 
Ostia,  at  the  mouth  of  the  Tiber.  It  is  waterlogged  and  jungly, 
and  teems  with  insect  life.  The  only  protection  employed  against 
mosquito-bite  and  fever  by  the  experimenters  who  occupied  this 
hut  was  mosquito-netting,  wire  screens  in  doors  and  windows, 
and,  by  way  of  extra  precaution,  mosquito-nets  round  their  beds. 
Not  a  grain  of  quinine  was  taken.  They  go  about  the  country 
quite  freely — always,  of  course,  with  an  eye  on  Aiiopheles — during 
the  day,  but  are  careful  to  be  indoors  from  sunset  to  sunrise.  Up 
to  2 1  St  September,  the  date  of  Dr.  Sambon's  last  letter  to  me,  the 
experimenters  and  their  servants  had  enjoyed  perfect  health,  in 
marked  contrast  to  their  neighbours,  who  were  all  of  them  either 
ill  with  fever,  or  had  suffered  malarial  attacks." 


MALARIA  221 

"What  for  practical  purposes  may  be  regarded  as  an 
experiment  of  the  same  kind  is  being  conducted  in  West 
Africa.  Dr.  Elhot,  a  member  of  the  Liverpool  expedition 
sent  to  Nigeria  some  time  ago  to  investigate  the  subject 
of  malarial  fever,  has  recently  returned  to  this  country. 
He  reports  that  the  members  of  the  expedition  have  been 
perfectly  well,  although  they  have  spent  four  months  in 
some  of  the  most  malarious  spots.  They  lived  practically 
amongst  marshes  and  other  places  hitherto  supposed  to 
be  the  most  deadly.  They  have  not  kept  the  fever  off 
by  the  use  of  quinine,  and  they  attribute  their  immunity 
to  the  careful  use  of  mosquito-nets  at  night."  {British 
Medical  Journal y  22nd  September  1900.) 

A  similar  "  experiment,"  of  the  utmost  importance, 
was  made  in  1900  by  Professor  Grassi.  It  concerned 
the  workmen  and  their  families  along  the  Battipaglia- 
Reggio  railway,  104  in  all,  including  33  children. 
The  great  majority  of  them  had  suffered  from  malaria 
in  the  preceding  year ;  and  only  i  i ,  including  4 
children,  had  never  suffered  from  it.  Pending  the 
arrival  of  the  malarial  season,  quinine  was  given  to 
all  who  needed  it.  The  first  Anopheles  with  its 
salivary  glands  infected  w^as  found  on  14th  June. 
Twelve  days  later  came  a  case  of  malaria  outside  the 
*'  zone  of  experiment,"  in  a  person  who  had  never  had 
malaria  before.  The  twelve  days  correspond  to  the 
incubation-period  after  infection.  Anopheles  having 
come,  and  the  malarial  season  with  him,  the  experi- 
ment was  begun.  The  houses  were  carefully  protected 
with  wire  netting,  chimneys  and  all ;  the  siesta  was 
taken  under  wire  netting;  the  workmen,  if  they  were 
out  in  the  evening  or  at  night,  wore  veils  and  gloves  ; 
and  Anopheles  was  to  be  killed  wherever  he  was  found. 
Quinine  was  altogether  given  up  and  forbidden,  except 
for  three  workmen  who  had  escaped  or  evaded  its  use 


222  EXPERIMENTS    ON    ANIMALS 

before  June,  and  had,  indeed,  never  before  been  treated 
with  quinine  :  one  of  them,  moreover,  had  been  sleeping 
outside  the  zone  of  experiment  in  July.  Except  these 
three,  all  the  104  and  their  doctors  remained  absolutely 
free  from  malaria  up  to  i6th  September,  the  date  of 
Professor  Grassi's  report : — 

"  Rightly  to  estimate  the  value  of  these  facts,  it  is 
necessar}'  briefly  to  describe  the  surroundings  of  the 
protected  area.  Towards  the  north,  coming  from  Batti- 
paglia,  three  railwa}^  cottages  are  situated,  at  a  distance 
of  I,  2,  and  3  kilometres  respectively.  The  25  inhabitants 
of  these  cottages,  although  they  were  put  under  the  tonic 
and  quinine  treatment  in  the  non-malarial  season,  all 
without  exception  were  taken  ill  with  malarial  fevers,  in 
many  cases  obstinate." 

Experiments  of  voluntar}^  exposure  to  bite  from  an 
infected  mosquito  were  made  at  or  about  this  time,  in 
London,  New  York,  Italy,  and  India.  The  London 
'' consignment "  of  mosquitoes  had  been  allowed  to  bite 
a  malaria-patient  in  Rome.  The  experiment  had  to  be 
ver}^  carefull}''  planned  : — 

"To  have  sent  mosquitoes  infected  with  malignant 
tertian  parasites  might  have  endangered  the  life  of  the 
subject  of  the  experiment ;  and  quartan-infected  insects 
might  have  conferred  a  type  of  disease  which,  though  not 
endangering  life,  is  extremely  difficult  to  eradicate.  The 
cases,  therefore,  on  which  the  experimental  insects  were 
fed  had  to  be  examples  of  pure  benign  tertian — a  type  of 
case  not  readil}^  met  with  in  Rome  during  the  height  of 
the  malarial  season  ;  the  absolute  purity  of  the  infection 
could  be  ascertained  only  by  repeated  and  careful  micro- 
scopic examination  of  the  blood  of  the  patient."  {British 
Medical  Journal y  29th  September  1900.) 


MALARIA  223 

The  mosquitoes  were  forwarded,  through  the  British 
Embassy  in  Rome,  to  the  London  School  of  Tropical 
Medicine.  The  two  brave  gentlemen  who  let  them- 
selves be  bitten  by  some  thirty  of  the  mosquitoes  were 
in  due  time  attacked  by  malaria,  and  the  tertian  forms 
of  the  parasite  were  found  in  their  blood.  Nine  months 
later,  one  of  them  had  a  relapse,  and  the  parasite  was 
again  found  in  his  blood. 

It  is  not  possible  to.  sum  up  the  wealth  of  work  on 
malaria  published  in  1900— 1901.  Good  accounts  of  it 
are  in  the  Transactions  of  the  Section  of  Tropical 
Diseases,  at  the  Annual  Meeting  of  the  British  Medical 
Association  (Cheltenham,  1901),  and  in  the  Thompson 
Yates  Laboratories  Reports,  vol.  iii.,  pt.  2,  1901. 
Everything  had  to  be  studied :  not  only  the  nature 
and  action  of  the  Plasmodium  in  all  its  phases,  but  also 
the  whole  natural  history  and  habits  of  the  Anopheles 
of  different  countries  ;  and,  above  all,  the  incidence  of 
the  disease  on  natives  and  on  Europeans  in  China, 
India,  and  Africa.  All  that  can  be  done  here  is  to  try 
to  indicate  the  principal  lines  followed  in  the  present 
world-wide  campaign  against  malaria.  The  following 
paragraphs  are  taken  mostly  from  the  accounts  given 
by  Dr.  Christophers  and  Dr.  Annett,  in  the  Thompson 
Yates  Laboratories  Report,  1901  : — 

I.  Elimination  of  the  Infection  at  its  Source.  This  is 
the  method  employed  with  success  by  Professor  Koch 
in  New  Guinea,  viz.,  to  search  out  all  cases  of  malaria 
(the  concealed  ones  in  particular),  and  to  render  them 
harmless  by  curing  them  with  quinine.  At  Stephansort, 
by  thus  hunting  up  all  infected  cases,  and  as  it  were, 
sterilising  them  by  the  systematic  administration  of 
quinine,  he  was  able  to  achieve  a  great  reduction  of 
the    disease    in    the    next    malarial   season,   even    under 


224  EXPERIMENTS   ON    ANIMALS 

adverse  conditions.  He  says,  in  his  report  to  the 
German  Government :  ''  The  results  of  our  experiment, 
which  has  lasted  nearly  six  months,  have  been  so  uni- 
form and  unequivocal  that  they  cannot  be  regarded  as 
accidental.  We  may  assume  that  it  is  directly  owing 
to  the  measures  we  have  adopted  that  malaria  here  has, 
in  a  comparatively  short  time,  almost  disappeared." 

This  method,  of  course,  is  applicable  only  in  small 
communities  ;  and,  within  these  limits,  it  may  become 
one  of  the  most  valuable  of  all  methods,  being,  like 
the  quality  of  mercy,  a  blessing  both  to  him  who  gives 
and  to  him  who  taketh.  But  it  cannot  be  practised 
on  a  vast  scale.  This  difficulty  is  well  put  by  Sir 
William  MacGregor,  K.C.M.G.,  Governor  of  Lagos, 
West  Africa  : — 

"  In  all  probabilit}'^,  the  day  will  come  before  long, 
when  newl3'-appointed  officers  for  places  like  Lagos  will 
have  to  undergo  a  test  as  to  whether  they  can  tolerate 
quinine  or  not.  A  man  that  cannot,  or  a  man  that  wull 
not,  take  quinine,  should  not  be  sent  to  or  remain  in  a 
malarial  country,  as  he  will  be  doing  so  at  the  risk  of  his 
own  life,  and  to  the  danger  of  others.  .  .  .  The  great 
difficulty  is  how  to  extend  this  treatment  beyond  the 
service,  more  particularly  to  the  uneducated  masses  of 
the  natives.  It  is  simply  impossible  to  protect  the  whole 
population  by  quinine  administered  as  a  prophylactic. 
In  the  first  place,  the  great  mass  of  natives  would  not 
take  the  medicine ;  and,  in  the  second  place,  the  Govern- 
ment could  not  afford  to  pay  for  the  70  tons  of  quinine 
a  year  that  w^ould  be  required  to  give  even  a  daily  grain 
dose  to  each  of  3.000,000  of  people." 

2.  Segregation  of  Europeans  from  A^atives.  This 
method  is  strongl^^  advocated  by  the  members  of  the 
Nigeria  Expedition  of  the  Liverpool  School  (1900). 
The  distance  of  removal   to  half  a  mile  is  considered 


MALARIA  225 

sufficient  :  "  Considerable  evidence  has  now  been  ac- 
cumulated to  prove  that  the  distance  which  is  traversed 
by  a  mosquito  is  never  very  great,  and  extremely  rarely 
reaches  so  much  as  half  a  mile."  The  arguments  in 
favour  of  this  method  of  '*  segregation  "  are  of  so  great 
interest  that  they  must  be  put  here  at  some  length. 
The  drawback  is  that  the  method  cannot  be  followed 
everywhere  to  its  logical  issue  without  some  risk  of 
giving  offence,  of  seeming  to  abandon  the  native,  of 
damaging  commerce,  and  so  forth.  But,  short  of  this, 
much  might  be  done  for  the  protection  of  Europeans  in 
Africa  : — 

"This  method  is  a  corollary  of  the  discovery  that  native 
children  in  Africa  practically  all  contain  the  malaria 
parasite,  and  are  the  source  from  which  Europeans 
derive  malaria.  Koch  showed  in  New  Guinea  that  in 
most  places  infection  was  very  prevalent  in  native 
children,  so  much  so  that  in  some  villages  100  per 
cent,  of  those  examined  contained  parasites.  He  also 
showed  that,  as  the  children  increased  in  age,  immunity 
was  produced,  so  that  in  the  case  of  adults  a  marked 
immunity  was  present,  and  malarial  infection  was  absent. 
The  Malaria  Commission  showed,  independently,  that 
a  condition  of  universal  infection  existed  among  the 
children  of  tropical  Africa,  associated  with  an  immunity 
of  the  adults.  This  infection  in  children  had  man}'  re- 
markable characteristics.  The  children  were  in  apparent 
health,  but  often  contained  large  numbers  of  parasites, 
and  a  small  proportion  only  of  the  children  failed  to 
show  some  degree  of  infection.  .  .  .  The  Liverpool 
School  Expedition  found  a  similar  condition  of  affairs  in 
all  parts  of  Nigeria  visited  by  them. 

"  With  a  knowledge  of  the  ubiquity  of  native  malaria, 
the  method  of  infection  of  Europeans  becomes  abundantly 
clear.  The  reputed  unhealthiness  or  healthiness  of 
stations  is  seen  at  once  to  be  dependent  on  the  proximity 

P 


226  EXPERIMENTS   ON   ANIMALS 

or  non-proximity  of  native  huts.  The  attack  of  malaria 
after  a  tour  up-country,  the  malaria  at  military  stations 
like  Prah-su,  the  abundance  of  malaria  on  railways,  are 
all  explicable  when  the  extraordinary  condition  of  uni- 
versal native  infection  is  appreciated.  It  is  evident  that, 
could  Europeans  avoid  the  close  proximity  of  native  huts, 
they  would  do  away  with  a  very  obvious  and  great  source 
of  infection.  .  .  .  When  it  is  understood  that  each  of 
these  huts  certainly  contains  many  children  with  para- 
sites in  their  blood,  and  also  scores  or  hundreds  of 
Anopheles  to  carry  the  infection,  then  the  frequency  with 
which  Europeans  suffer  from  malaria  is  scarcely  to  be 
wondered  at.  .  .  .  The  accompanying  plan  is  that  of 
a  new  railway  settlement  on  the  Sierra  Leone  Railway. 
Miles  of  land  free  from  huts  exist  along  the  line,  but  the 
close  neighbourhood  of  native  huts  has  been  selected. 
At  the  time  of  building  of  these  quarters,  it  lay  in  the 
power  of  the  engineers  to  have  a  malaria-free  settlement ; 
instead  of  which,  by  the  non-observance  of  a  simple  fact, 
the  station  is  most  malarious  :  in  this  particular  instance, 
much  ingenuity  has  been  shown  in  providing  each  set  of 
European  quarters  with  plenty  of  malarial  infection.  In 
towns  only  is  there  any  difficulty  in  carrying  out  the 
principle  of  segregation.  In  two  instances,  however,  this 
has  been  carried  out  in  towns,  with  the  result  that  the 
segregated  communities  of  Europeans  are  notoriously  the 
most  healthy  on  the  West  Coast.  Even  when  no  scheme 
of  complete  segregation  can  be  carried  out,  the  principle 
should  always  be  borne  in  mind,  and,  whenever  oppor- 
tunity offers,  huts  should  be  removed,  and  European 
houses  built  in  the  open.  ...  It  is  almost  universally 
the  rule  in  West  Africa  to  find  European  houses  built 
round  by  native  quarters,  a  practice  which  long  experi- 
ence in  India  has  taught  Europeans  to  avoid  carefully. 
At  Old  Calabar,  many  of  the  factories  are  almost  sur- 
rounded, except  in  front,  by  native  habitations  ;  similarly, 
at  Egwanga,  the  small  native  town  is  built  by  the  side  and 
back  of  one  of  the  factories.  Also  at  the  Niger  Company's 
factory  at  Lokoja,  the  native  houses  are  very  close  up 


MALARIA  227 

to  the  Company's  boundary  railings.  Akassa  engineers' 
quarters  may  be,  again,  mentioned  as  an  example  where 
the  engineering  artisans,  chiefly  natives  of  Lagos,  Accra, 
and  Sierra  Leone,  are  housed  with  their  families  along- 
side the  European  house.  A  large  proportion  of  these 
native  children  were  found  by  us  to  contain  malarial 
parasites.  Similarly  also  at  Asaba,  the  proximity  of  the 
barracks  of  the  Hausa  soldiers,  who  have  their  wives  and 
children  with  them,  is  a  dangerous  menace  to  the  officers 
at  the  Force  House. 

*'  Examples  of  the  opposite  condition  of  affairs  might 
also  be  given.  For  instance,  at  Old  Calabar,  the  Govern- 
ment offices  and  Consulate,  Vice-Consulate,  and  medical 
house,  are  comparatively  free  from  malarial  fever ;  it 
having  been  established  that  the  natives  shall  not  build 
on  the  European  side  of  the  creek  separating  the  two 
slopes  on  wMiich  the  native  town  and  European  quarters 
are  built.  This  creek  is  at  a  distance  of  about  half  a 
mile  from  the  houses  mentioned." 


It  is  plain,  from  these  and  other  instances  given  by 
the  members  of  the  Nigeria  Expedition,  that  a  modified 
sort  of  ''  segregation  "  can  be  effected  in  many  places, 
without  any  injury  either  to  native  feelings,  or  to 
politics,  or  to  commerce ;  and  that  by  such  segrega- 
tion the  risk  of  malaria  among  Europeans  in  Africa 
would  be  diminished. 

3.  Protection  against  Anopheles.  Manson,  in  his 
Tropical  Diseases  (1905),  says,  ^'The  question  is  often 
asked,  Is  there  any  other  way  by  which  malaria  can  be 
contracted  than  through  a  mosquito-bite  ?  For  many 
reasons,  I  believe  not.  It  is  difficult  to  prove  a  nega- 
tive ;  but,  so  far,  there  is  no  observation  capable  of 
bearing  investigation  that  would  lead  us  to  suppose 
that  malaria  can  be  acquired,  under  natural  conditions, 
except   by   mosquito-bite."      All   authorities    are  agreed 


228  EXPERIMENTS   ON    ANIMALS 

that,  practically,  the  fight  against  malaria  and  the  fight 
against  Anopheles  are  one  and  the  same  thing ;  and  the 
experiments  b}'-  Sambon,  Low,  and  Grassi,  show  what 
can  be  done,  in  this  war  against  the  mosquito,  by  way 
of  defence.  But  what  is  practicable  in  Italy  might  not 
be  generally  practicable  on  the  West  African  coast  ;  as 
Sir  William  MacGregor  says  of  Lagos  : — 

"  It  is  not  likely  that  in  a  place  like  Lagos  as  good 
results  can  be  obtained  from  the  use  of  mosquito-proof 
netting  as  in  Italy.  One  great  objection  to  it  here  is  the 
serious  and  highly  disagreeable  wa}^  it  checks  ventila- 
tion. This  is  a  difficulty  that  cannot  be  fully  brought 
home  to  one  in  a  cold  climate.  But,  in  a  low-l3'ing,  hot, 
and  moist  locality  like  Lagos,  it  comes  to  be  a  choice  of 
evils,  to  sit  inside  the  netting  stewed  and  suff'ocated,  or 
to  be  worried  and  poisoned  by  mosquitoes  outside.  The 
netting  is  hardl}^  a  feasible  remedy  as  regards  native 
houses.  It  is  not  possible  to  protect  even  European 
quarters  complete!}'  b}'  it.  Few  officers  or  others  are  so 
occupied  that  the}-  could  spend  the  day  in  a  mosquito- 
proof  room.  Certain  it  is  that  any  man  that  suff"ers 
from  the  singular  delusion  that  mosquitoes  bite  only 
during  the  night,  would  have  a  speedy  cure  by  spending 
a  few  da3's,  or  even  a  few  hours,  in  Lagos.  Operations 
here  (September  1901)  are  being  limited  to  supplying 
one  mosquito-proof  room  to  the  quarters  of  each  officer. 
In  this  he  will  be  able  to  spend  the  evening  free  from 
mosquitoes  if  he  chooses  to  do  so.  The  European  wards 
of  the  hospital  are  similarly  protected." 

The  European  in  Africa,  as  Ross  says,  is  generally 
neglectful  of  his  health  ;  and  the  "  unhealthiness "  of 
the  African  coast  is  to  some  extent  due  to  the  life  that 
men  lead  there  : — 

"Let  us  compare  the  habits  of  a  European  in  a  busi- 
ness-house in  Calcutta  with  the  habits  of  a  European  in 


MALARIA  229 

West  Africa.  In  Calcutta  he  sleeps  under  a  punkah  or 
mosquito-net,  or  both  ;  he  dresses  and  breakfasts  under 
a  punkah  ;  in  the  evening  he  takes  vigorous  exercise, 
and  he  dines  under  a  punkah.  He  wears  the  lightest 
possible  clothing,  he  lives  in  a  solid,  cool,  airy  house,  and 
he  obtains  very  good  food ;  once  in  five  or  six  years,  he 
returns  to  Europe  for  leave.  ...  In  Africa,  the  houses 
are  frequently  very  bad ;  in  Freetown,  for  instance,  they 
are  the  same  as  the  houses  of  natives,  and  are  mingled 
with  them.  The  Anglo-African  seems  to  imagine  that 
he  can  live  in  the  tropics  in  the  same  manner  as  he 
lives  in  England.  He  seldom  uses  a  punkah,  except 
perhaps  for  an  hour  at  dinner-time,  and,  not  seldom, 
he  neglects  even  the  mosquito-net.  The  food  is  often, 
or  generally,  execrable.  Owing  to  the  frequent  absence 
of  gymkhanas  and  clubs,  the  exile  obtains  little  suitable 
exercise." 

But  whatever  risks  the  old  resident  may  choose  to 
take,  the  newcomer  can  at  least  use  a  proper  and 
efficient  mosquito-net  at  night,  and  avoid  sleeping  in  a 
native  house,  and  protect  himself  in  these  and  the  like 
ways  against  malaria. 

4.  The  keeping  down  of  Anopheles.  The  breeding 
places  of  Anopheles  are  ponds,  swamps,  and  puddles, 
roadside  ditches,  tanks,  and  cisterns,  old  disused  canoes, 
and  the  like  collections  of  stagnant  water:  also  the 
smaller  receptacles  that  are  more  generally  occupied  by 
Ciilexy  such  as  broken  bottles,  old  tins,  pots,  and  cala- 
bashes, and  barrels,  whatever  will  hold  water — all  the 
debris  and  broken  rubbish  round  huts  or  houses.  In 
all  these  places,  Anopheles  eggs  or  larvae  are  found  ; 
and,  with  practice,  it  is  easy  to  detect  them.  Of 
course,  it  is  not  easy  to  wage  war  against  the  adult 
mosquito  :  the  work  is,  Venienti  occurrere  morbo,  to 
organise  gangs   of  workmen,   or  of  prison   labour,  and 


230  EXPERIMENTS   ON    ANIMALS 

"  mosquito  brigades  "  ;  to  clear  the  ground  of  cartloads 
of  old  biscuit-tins,  broken  gin-bottles,  and  other  dust- 
heap  things,  in  and  around  the  place  ;  to  cover-in  the 
cisterns,  rain-barrels,  and  wells  ;  to  clean  pools  and 
duck-ponds  of  weed,  and  stock  them  with  minnows  ; 
to  put  a  film  of  kerosene  to  the  puddles,  or  sweep  them 
out,  or  fill  them  up  and  turf  them  over  ;  everywhere, 
to  drain,  and  level,  and  clean-up  the  surface  soil ;  and 
everywhere,  by  these  and  the  like  methods,  to  break 
the  cycle  of  the  life  of  the  Plasmodium  malarm : — 

"Draining  and  cultivation  where  the  land  will  repay  the 
expenditure,  permanent  and  complete  flooding  where  it 
will  not,  and  such  flooding  is  possible;  proper  paving  of 
unhealthy  towns,  and  the  filling-in  of  stagnant,  swampy 
pools  ;  these — in  other  words,  all  measures  calculated  to 
keep  down  mosquitoes — are  the  more  important  things 
to  be  striven  for  in  attempting  the  sanitation  of  malarious 
districts.  In  England,  in  Holland,  in  France,  in  Algeria, 
in  America,  and  in  many  other  places,  enormous  tracts 
of  country,  which  formerly  were  useless  and  pestilential, 
have  been  rendered  healthy  and  productive  by  such 
means."     (Manson.) 

And,  short  of  such  great  enterprises  as  Government 
works  of  drainage,  much  has  already  been  done,  in 
many  African  towns,  and  in  India,  by  the  work  of  a 
few  men  and  women :  not  only  by  practical  sanitary 
improvements,  but  by  insistent  teaching  and  lecturing. 
For  the  admirable  results  recentl}-  obtained  in  Ismailia, 
Algeria,  Formosa,  and  the  Malay  States,  see  the  Medical 
Annual^   1905  and  1906.^ 

^  This  paper,  by  Dr.  Stephens,  gives  also  the  reasons  why 
equally  good  results  were  not  obtained  at  Mian  Mir,  Punjab. 
The  whole  paper  is  of  great  interest. 


YELLOW    FEVER  231 

Before  leaving  the  subject  of  malaria,  it  must  be 
added  that  the  discovery  and  study  of  the  parasite 
which  causes  it  have  cleared  up  the  mystery  of  the 
specific  action  of  quinine  upon  the  disease.  It  operates 
simply  by  its  germicidal  effect  upon  the  microbe.  But, 
be3'ond  this,  we  have  now  a  clue  which  we  never  had 
before  to  guide  us  to  the  most  advantageous  manner  of 
administering  the  drug. 

2 .   Yellow   Fever 

The  specific  organism  of  malaria  may  become  active 
again  and  again  in  the  blood,  causing  relapses  twenty 
years  or  more  after  the  original  infection.  The  specific 
organism  of  yellow  fever  expends  itself  at  once,  in  one 
acute  attack  ;  and,  if  the  patient  recovers,  he  is  thence- 
forth more  or  less  immune  against  infection.  That  the 
inoculation  of  the  disease,  by  the  application  of  a  single 
mosquito  recently  contaminated,  is  calculated  to  produce 
a  mild  or  abortive  attack  less  dangerous  than  the  average 
attack  among  the  non-acclimatised,  was  known  to  Finlay, 
and  was  confirmed  in  1899  by  the  Army  Commission 
of  the  United  States. 

Of  the  mortality  of  the  disease.  Sir  Patrick  Manson, 
in   I  900,  wrote  as  follows  : — 

•'It  is  better  for  women  and  children  than  for  men; 
better  for  old  residents  than  for  newcomers  ;  worst  of  all 
for  the  intemperate.  According  to  a  table  of  293  carefully 
observed  cases  given  by  Sternberg,  the  mean  mortality 
in  the  whole  293  cases  was  27.7  per  cent.  This  may  be 
taken  as  a  fairly  representative  mortality  in  yellow  fever 
among  the  unacclimatised,  something  between  25  and  30 
percent.,  although  in  some  epidemics  it  has  risen  as  high 
as  50  or  even  80  per  cent,  of  those  attacked.  .  .  .     Some 


232  EXPERIMENTS   ON    ANIMALS 

ot  these  epidemic  visitations  bring  a  heavy  death-bill ; 
thus,  in  New  Orleans,  in  1853,  7970  people  died  of 
yellow  fever;  in  1867,  3093  ;  in  Rio,  in  1850,  it  claimed 
4160  victims;  in  1852,  1943;  and  in  1886,  1397.  In 
Havana,  the  annual  mortality  from  this  cause  ranges 
from   500  to   1600  or  over." 

The  earlier  attempts  to  reproduce  the  disease,  by 
inoculation  with  its  products,  failed  altogether : — 

"  In  1816,  Dr.  Chervin,  of  Point-a-Pitre  (Antilles), 
drank  repeatedly  large  quantities  of  black  vomit  with- 
out feeling  the  least  disturbance.  Some  3'ears  before, 
other  North  American  colleagues,  Doctors  Potter,  Firth, 
Catteral,  and  Parker,  did  everything  possible  to  inoculate 
themselves  with  yellow  fever.  After  having  uselessly 
attempted  experiments  on  animals,  they  experimented 
on  themselves,  inoculating  the  black  matter  at  the  very 
moment  in  which  the  moribund  patient  rejected  it,  placing 
this  matter  in  their  eyes,  or  in  wounds  made  in  their 
arms,  injecting  it  more  than  twent}'  times  in  various  parts 
of  their  bod}^  ...  in  short,  devising  every  sort  of  daring 
means  for  experimentally  transmitting  yellow  fever.  All 
these  experiments  were  without  result,  and  in  the  United 
States  during  many  years  it  was  beUeved  that  this  terrible 
malady  was  non-contagious."  [British  Medical  Journal^ 
3rd  July,  1897.) 

The  history  of  the  subject,  from  18 12  to  1880, 
is  given  by  Dr.  Finlay  of  Havana,  in  the  New  York 
Medical  Record  (9th  Februar}^  1901).  In  1880,  two 
very  important  reports  on  the  disease  were  published  ; 
one  by  a  Havana  Commission  of  the  National  Board  of 
Health  of  the  United  States,  the  other  by  the  United 
States  Navy  Department.  They  tended  to  show  that 
3^ellow  fever  is  a  "  germ-disease  "  ;  that  it  is  not  wind- 
borne  ;  and  that  there  may  be  some  change,  outside 
the   body  of  the  patient,  whereby  the  virulence  of  the 


YELLOW    FEVER  233 

active  principle  of  the  disease  is  heightened.  From 
these  reports,  Dr.  Finlay  advanced  his  doctrine  that 
the  mosquito  receives  and  transmits  the  germs  of  the 
disease :  — 

*'  It  was  upon  the  above  hue  of  reasoning  (in  these 
reports),  that  I  conceived  the  idea  that  the  yellow-fever 
germ  must  be  conveyed  from  the  patient  to  the  non- 
immunes by  inoculation^  a  process  which  could  be  per- 
formed in  nature  only  through  the  agency  of  some  stinging 
insect  whose  biological  conditions  must  be  identical  with 
those  which  were  known  to  favour  the  transmissibility  of 
the  disease." 

In  1 88 1  he  inoculated  himself  and  six  soldiers  with 
infected  mosquitoes,  and  obtained,  as  he  had  calculated, 
mild  attacks  and  subsequent  immunity.  During  the 
years  1 88  i  —  i  900  he  inoculated  by  this  method  104 
persons  : — 

**  In  these  inoculations,  be  it  remembered,  my  principal 
object  was  rather  to  avoid  than  to  seek  the  development 
of  a  severe  attack  ;  in  point  of  fact,  only  seventeen  showed 
any  appreciable  pathogenic  effects  after  their  inocula- 
tion. I  felt  sure,  however,  that  severe  or  fatal  result 
might  follow  an  inoculation  either  with  several  mosquitoes 
contaminated  from  severe  cases  of  the  disease,  or  from  a 
single  insect  applied  several  days  or  weeks  after  its  con- 
tamination, having  come  to  this  last  conclusion  in  view 
of  the  facts  connected  with  the  Anne  Marie,  and  the 
epidemic  of  Saint  Nazaire." 

Dr.  Finlay's  discovery  that  the  mosquito  can  convey 
yellow  fever,  and  that  the  germ  of  the  disease  is  more 
virulent  after  a  prolonged  sojourning  in  the  mosquito, 
was  proved  beyond  all  question  by  the  work  of  1889— 
1 90 1.      But,  so  far  as  immunisation  is  concerned,  few 


234  EXPERIMENTS   ON    ANIMALS 

people  would  submit  themselves  to  be  bitten  by  an  in- 
fected mosquito,  even  with  perfect  assurance  that  the 
germs  contained  in  it  were  of  a  low  degree  of  virulence  : 
the  urgent  need,  therefore,  was  for  an  immunising  serum. 
In  1896,  at  Flores,  Sanarelli  discovered  the  bacillus 
icteroides ;  and  by  October  1897,  he  had  prepared  an 
immunising  serum  which  was  able  to  give  a  consider- 
able amount  of  protection  to  animals.^  Next  year 
{Annales  de  I'Institut  Pasteur,  May  1898)  came  the 
news  that  he  had  advanced  against  yellow  fever  with 
its  own  weapons — Premieres  experiences  sur  Vemploi  du 
serum  curatif  et  preventif  de  la  fievre  jaune.  Of  the  first 
8  cases  (Rio  de  Janeiro),  4  recovered.  Then  came  the 
22  cases  at  San  Carlos  do  Pinhal,  in  Saint- Paul  au 
Bresil  (January  1898),  with  16  recoveries,  and  only  6 
deaths.  And  it  is  to  be  noted  that  he  submitted  his 
method  of  treatment  to  the  utmost  test  that  was  pos- 
sible ;  he  chose  the  bad  cases,  and  the  country  where 
the  fever  was  most  fatal : — 

"  Chaque  cas  etait  choisi  de  commun  accord  entre 
nous,  dans  le  but  de  mettre  bien  en  evidence  Faction 
therapeutique  du  serum,  niettant  toiijoiirs  de  cote  tons  les 
cas  qui  se  presentaient  avec  des  symptoines  vagues  on 
attenues  on  en  forme  legere  ou  fruste.  On  ne  conse7"vait 
done  que  des  cas  oft,  d'apres  la  violence  des  phenomenes 
d' invasion,  on  devait  consider er  coninie  tres  peu  probable 
tme  crise  spontanee  de  la  inaladie.  ..." 

Furthermore,  Sanarelli  was  able  to  show  the  pre- 
ventive value  of  the  serum.  At  the  end  of  February 
1898,  yellow  fever  broke  out  in  the  jail  at  San 
Carlos  : — 

^  It  is  not  denied  here  that  he  made  five  experiments  on  human 
beings.     See  Part  IV.  chap.  ii. 


YELLOW    FEVER  235 

**  La  premiere  victinie  fut  un  condamne,  qui  vivait 
avec  tous  les  autres  dans  une  salle  ou  les  conditions 
hygi^niques  L'taient  assez  niauvaiscs.  Le  lendemain,  la 
sentinclle,  qui  c5tait  en  rapport  continuel  avec  la  salle  des 
condamnes,  tonibait  nialade.  Quelques  jours  apres,  un 
autre  condamne  suivait  le  sort  du  premier,  et  bientot  un 
quatrieme*  cas,  iiiortel  aussi,  finit  par  signaler  la  prison 
comme  un  nouveau  foyer  d'infection  qui  venait  s'allumer 
au  centre  d'un  quartier  de  la  ville  encore  reste  indemne. 

"  Si  on  avait  abandonn^  la  chose  a  elle-meme,  on 
aurait  vu  se  produire  le  meme  spectacle  qu'avaient 
fourni,  dans  les  conditions  identiques,  pendant  les  der- 
nieres  Epidemics,  les  prisons  de  Rio-Claro,  de  Limeira, 
et  d'autres  villes  de  I'Etat  de  Saint-Paul." 

Every  prisoner,  except  one  who  had  already  had  the 
fever,  was  therefore  given  the  preventive  treatment. 
At  once  the  outbreak  stopped  ;  no  more  cases  occurred, 
though  only  a  weak  serum  was  used,  though  the  state 
of  the  prison  and  its  occupants  was  unhealthy,  though 
the  fever,  two  months  later,  was  still  raging  round  the 
prison,  in  the  town. 

In  October  1900,  the  United  States  Commission  on 
Yellow  Fever  published  a  preliminary  report  on  11 
cases  of  mosquito-inoculation.  Of  these,  the  majority 
gave  a  negative  result,  and  were  found  susceptible  to 
infection,  at  a  later  date,  from  the  blood  of  a  yellow- 
fever  patient.  Two  gave  a  positive  result.  In  the 
course  of  these  experiments,  Dr.  Lazear,  a  member  of 
the  Commission,  died  of  the  disease.  In  February 
1 90 1,  and  again  in  July,  the  Commission  published 
further  reports,  emphasising  the  fact  that  the  mosquito 
conveys  the  disease,  and  denying  that  the  disease  can 
be  conveyed  in  clothing,  bedding,  and  so  forth  : — 

"  Our  observations  appear  to  demonstrate  that  the 
parasite  of  this  disease  must  undergo  a  definite  cycle  of 


236  EXPERIMENTS   ON    ANIMALS 

development  in  the  body  of  the  mosquito  before  the  latter 
is  capable  of  conveying  infection.  This  period  would 
seem  to  be  not  less  than  twelve  days. 

'*  We  also  consider  the  question  of  house  infection,  and 
are  able  to  show  that  this  infection  is  due  to  the  presence 
of  mosquitoes  that  have  previously  bitten  yellow-fever 
patients ;  and  that  the  danger  of  contracting  the  disease 
may  be  avoided  in  the  case  of  non-immune  individuals 
who  sleep  in  this  building,  by  the  use  of  a  wire  screen. 

"We  also  demonstrate,  b}-  observations  made  at  this 
camp  (Fort  Lazear),  that  clothes  and  bedding  contami- 
nated by  contact  with  yellow-fever  cases,  or  by  the 
excreta  of  these  cases,  is  absolutely  without  effect  in 
conveying  the  disease." 

In  February  1 90 1,  Dr.  H.  E.  Durham  published  an 
abstract  of  an  interim  report  of  the  Liverpool  School 
Yellow  Fever  Commission.  He  and  Dr.  Walter  Myers, 
the  two  Commissioners,  had  both  of  them  been  attacked 
by  the  disease,  and  Dr.  Myers  had  died  of  it.  The 
report  gives  evidence  that  the  disease  is  due  to  a  bacil- 
lus which  is  not  the  bacillus  ideroidcs ;  and  it  does  not 
wholly  favour  the  earlier  report  (1900)  of  the  American 
Commission.  A  later  Commission  to  New  Orleans, 
September  1901  to  January  1902,  reported  an  exten- 
sive series  of  investigations,  which  seem  rather  to 
support  the  belief  that  the  bacillus  icteroides  is  the  cause 
of  the  disease.  Later  still,  this  belief  is  again  denied  ; 
and,  as  in  rabies,  so  in  yellow  fever,  the  good  work  has 
gone  on  without  waiting  for  the  identity  of  this  or  that 
micro-organism. 


Immunisation,    by    the    direct    use    of    an    infected 
mosquito,   may   be    compared   with    the    old    custom    of 


YELLOW    FEVER  237 

inoculation  against  smallpox.  The  use  of  Sanarelli's 
serum-treatment  has  not  gone  far.  There  remains  for 
consideration  the  method  of  keeping  down  infection  b}-- 
keeping  down  Culex. 

Three  reports,  in  1901  — 1902,  come  from  Dr.  Guitcras 
(Havana),  Surgeon-Major  Gorgas,  chief  sanitar3'  officer 
(Havana),  and  the  Commission  at  New  Orleans.  Dr. 
Guiteras  reports  that  6  cases  of  3'ellow  fever  (inocula- 
tion) were  treated  in  a  4arge  "  mosquito-proof  "  building, 
which  also  contained  cases  of  other  diseases.  No 
prophylaxis  was  enforced,  save  the  exclusion  of  mos- 
quitoes ;  non-immunes  visited  the  yellow  fever  cases, 
non-immunes  nursed  them,  and  most  of  the  attendants 
and  labourers  about  the  place  were  non-immunes  ;  but 
not  a  single  case  of  infection  occurred.  The  New 
Orleans  Commission  reports  that,  of  200  cisterns,  (Sec, 
examined  in  the  cit}'  for  the  presence  of  larvae,  the  lar\'a 
of  Ciilcx  {Sfegomyia)  predominated  in  more  than  60  per 
cent. 

The  report  of  Surgeon-Major  Gorgas  is  very  pleasant 
reading.  For  two  centuries,  Cuba  had  been  cursed 
with  3'ellow  fever  ;  then,  after  the  war  with  Spain, 
America   took   it   over  : — 

"The  army  took  charge  of  the  health  department  of 
Havana,  when  deaths  (from  all  causes)  were  occurring  at 
the  rate  of  21,252  per  year.  It  gives  it  up,  with  deaths 
occurring  at  the  rate  of  5720  per  3'ear.  It  took  charge, 
with  smallpox  endemic  for  3'ears.  It  gives  it  up,  with 
not  a  case  having  occurred  in  the  cit3'  for  over  eighteen 
months.  It  took  charge,  with  3'ellow  fever  endemic  for 
two  centuries  —  the  relentless  foe  of  every  foreigner 
who  came  within  Havana's  borders,  which  he  could  not 
escape,  and  from  whose  attack  he  well  knew  ever3'  fourth 
man  must  die.  The  army  has  stamped  out  this  disease 
in  its  greatest  stronghold." 


238  EXPERIMENTS   ON    ANIMALS 

Make  fair  allowance  for  the  wide  variation,  from  year 
to  year,  of  the  number  of  yellow  fever  cases  in  any 
town  within  the  geographical  belt  of  the  disease  ;  admit 
that  a  town  may,  in  the  course  of  nature,  have  many 
hundred  cases  in  one  3^ear,  and  only  half  a  dozen  in 
another  year.  Again,  make  fair  allowance  for  all  other 
good  influences  of  the  American  occupation  of  Cuba, 
beside  those  that  were  concerned  with  the  stamping  out 
of  Culcx ;  admit  that  the  general  death-rate  of  Havana, 
in  the  last  February  of  Spanish  rule  (1898),  was  82.32 
per  thousand,  and  in  February  1901,  was  19.32.  Still, 
there  is  an  example  here,  in  the  1901  work  in  Havana, 
for  the  world  to  follow,  wherever  yellow  fever  exists. 
The  following  abstract  of  Surgeon-Major  Gorgas'  results 
was  published  in  the  Practitioner,  May  1902,  by  Pro- 
fessor Hewlett,  one  of  the  foremost  of  English  bacteri- 
ologists : — 

"Commencing  in  February  190 1,  orders  were  issued 
that  every  suspected  case  of  3'ellow  fever  should  be 
screened  with  wire  gauze  at  the  public  expense,  so  as  to 
render  the  room  or  rooms  mosquito-proof.  All  mosquitoes 
in  the  infected  house  and  in  contiguous  houses  were  de- 
stroyed. After  the  middle  of  February,  100  men  were 
employed  in  carr3^ing  out  the  destruction  of  the  mosquito- 
larvae  in  their  breeding  places,  putting  oil  in  the  cesspools 
of  all  houses,  clearing  the  streams,  draining  pools,  and 
oiling  the  larger  bodies  of  water.  Up  to  June,  quarantine 
was  enforced,  together  with  disinfection  of  the  house  and 
fomites.  After  that,  however,  rigid  quarantine  of  the 
patient  was  stopped,  and  disinfection  of  fabrics  and 
clothing  ceased.  It  was  merely  required  that  the  patient 
should  be  reported,  his  house  placarded  and  screened,  and 
a  guard  placed  over  each  case  to  report  how  general  sick- 
room sanitation  was  carried  out,  to  see  that  the  screen- 
door  communicating  with  the  screened  part  of  the  house 
was  kept  properly  closed,  and  to  see  that  communication 


YELLOW    FEVER  239 

with  the  sick-room  was  not  too  free,  four  or  five  non- 
immunes only  being  allowed  in.  By  the  end  of  Sep- 
tejnber,  the  last  focus  of  the  disease  had  been  got  rid  of 
and  since  then,  up  to  the  beginning  of  fanuary^  there  has 
not  been  a  si7igle  case.  Whereas,  for  the  years  since 
1889,  from  1st  April  to  1st  December,  yellow  fever 
caused  an  average  of  410.54  deaths,  with  a  maximum  of 
1 175  for  1896,  and  a  minimum  of  79  for  1899,  it  caused 
i?t  1 90 1  5  deaths  071  ly.  In  the  months  of  October  and 
November^  when  the  disease  has  hitherto  been  exceedingly 
rife  in  Havana,  there  has  not  been  a  single  case.  For  the 
first  time  in  \^0  years  ^  Havana  has  been  free  front  yellow 
fever. 

Sir  Patrick  Manson,  lecturing  in  America,  last  year, 
on  tropical  diseases,  summed  up  the  work  as  follows  : — 

^'Time  will  not  permit — what  to  you  is  probably  quite 
unnecessary — the  recapitulation  of  the  story  of  the 
labours  of  Reed  and  his  coadjutors.  I  cannot  pass  on, 
however,  to  what  I  have  to  say  in  connection  with  this 
work  without  a  word  of  admiration  for  the  insight,  the 
energy,  the  skill,  the  courage,  and  withal  the  modesty  and 
simplicity  of  the  leader  of  that  remarkable  band  of  workers. 
If  any  man  deserved  a  monument  to  his  memory,  it  was 
Reed.  If  any  band  of  men  deserve  recognition  at  the 
hands  of  their  countrymen,  it  is  Reed's  colleagues. 

"The  principal  outcome  of  the  labours  of  these  men 
has  been  the  demonstration,  first,  that  the  ultra-micro- 
scopic germ  of  yellow  fever  is  present  in  the  blood  of  the 
patient  during  the  first  three  da^'s  of  the  disease.  Second, 
that  the  first  step  in  the  passage  of  the  germ  from  the 
sick  to  the  sound  is  made,  under  natural  conditions,  in 
the  stegomyia  mosquito.  And  third,  that  after  about 
twelve  days  and  upwards  in  stegomyia,  the  3'ellow  fever 
germ,  when  implanted  by  the  said  mosquito  into  another 
human  host,  is  capable  of  reproduction,  so  that  at  the  end 
of  a  further  period  of  about  three  days  it  has  established 
itself  throughout   the    blood,  is   causing  the  violent  re- 


240  EXPERIMENTS   ON   ANIMALS 

action,  the  clinical  manifestations  of  which  we  call  yellow 
fever,  and  is  once  more  in  a  condition  to  re-enter  the 
mosquito. 

"These  are  great  etiological  facts.  They  are  of 
supreme  practical  and  scientific  value.  Acting  on  them, 
the  United  States  sanitary  authorities  expelled  yellow 
fever  from  Havana.  Acting  on  them,  they  should  be 
able  in  the  future  to  protect  the  United  States  themselves 
from  such  terrible  visitations  as  in  the  past  have  swept 
through  some  of  your  cities." 

3.     FiLARIASIS 

These  same  lectures  contain  an  admirable  account  of 
the  life-history  of  Filaria.  It  is  not  necessary  here  to 
describe  the  loathsome  deformities  which  occur  in  the 
later  stages  of  filariasis.  These  deformities  {elephanti- 
asis^ Barbadoes  leg),  which  may  attain  colossal  size,  are 
due  to  the  blocking  of  the  lymphatic  vessels  with  filarial 
worms.  Cases  of  the  disease  are  hardly  ever  seen  in 
this  country ;  but  it  is  very  frequent  in  some  parts  of 
the  tropics.  In  the  endemic  areas,  says  Manson,  10  per 
cent,  is  not  an  uncommon  proportion  of  the  population  to  he 
found  affected  with  filariasis.  Thirty  and  even  5  O  per  cent, 
may  he  affected.  In  many  of  the  Pacific  Islands — the 
Samoa  group  for  instance — /  believe  that  even  this  pro- 
portion is  exceeded. 

That  Ctdex  (fatigans)  can  carry  the  parasite,  has 
been  proved  past  all  doubt.  Neither  does  anybody 
doubt,  that  the  keeping  down  of  this  mosquito  would 
keep  down  filariasis.  A  report  of  great  interest,  from 
Barbadoes,  was  published  in  the  BritisJi  Medical  Journal 
for  14th  June  1902.  It  is  written  b}^  Dr.  Low,  whose 
experiment  on  himself  in  the  Campagna  has  already 
been  noted  in  this  chapter.  Dr.  Low  reports  that  there 
is  no  indigenous  malaria  in  the  island,  and  that  neither 


FILARIASIS  241 

he  nor  Mr.  Lefroy  could  find  a  single  Anopheles  larva, 
though  they  hunted  diligently  in  the  swamps  and  other 
likely  places.  But  filariasis  is  terribly  common,  and  so 
is  Ctilex  fatigans.  Dr.  Low  examined  the  night-blood 
of  600  cases  of  all  kinds  in  the  General  Hospital,  the 
Central  Almshouse,  and  elsewhere,  and  found  the 
filaria-embryos  in  no  less  than  76=12.66  per  cent. 
He  caught  and  dissected  a  hundred  mosquitoes  {Culex 
fatigans)  from  the  wards  and  corridors  of  the  General 
Hospital,  and  found  that  no  less  than  23  of  them  were 
infected.  If  it  were  not  for  Ciilcx^  and  for  men's  in- 
difference and  apathy,  filariasis  could  be  kept  down  all 
over  the  island  : — 

**  There  is  a  perfect  water  supply,  and  people  can  get 
their  water  fresh  from  the  standpipes  at  their  doors. 
Old  wells  ought  to  be  filled  up ;  no  water-barrels  or  tubs 
should  be  allowed,  or,  if  kept,  they  should  be  emptied 
every  week  or  so.  Tanks  and  collections  of  water  in 
gardens  should  all  be  periodically  treated  with  kerosene, 
or  be  furnished  with  closely-fitting  covers  to  prevent 
mosquitoes  getting  in.  These  methods  are  simple  and 
inexpensive,  and  each  householder  should  see  that  they 
are  applied  in  his  garden  and  grounds.  The  difficulty 
begins  when  one  has  to  take  into  account  the  inability  of 
the  negro  to  grasp  anything  of  a  hygienic  nature.  The 
only  way  to  get  over  this,  would  be  a  system  of  sanitary 
inspection  by  a  few  competent  men.  For  individual 
prophylaxis,  mosquito-nets  ought  always  to  be  used ; 
but  many,  even  educated  people,  still  persist  in  sleeping 
without  them ;  of  course,  nothing  in  this  line  can  be 
expected  of  the  native  population. 

"  If  such  means  were  adopted  for  Barbadoes,  the 
presence  of  filarial  disease,  which  at  present  is  quite 
alarming,  could  easily,  with  little  trouble  and  expense,  be 
greatly  diminished,  and  thus  save  much  suffering,  as  well 
as  loss  of  time,  hideous  deformity,  and  doubtless  in  not  a 
few  instances  loss  of  life." 

Q 


242  EXPERIMENTS   ON    ANIMALS 

Thus,  in  a  few  years,  from  experiments  on  mosquitoes, 
sparrows,  and  men,  has  come  the  present  plan  of  cam- 
paign against  malaria,  yellow  fever,  and  filariasis  ;  that 
is^  against  Anopheles  and  Qilex.  He  who  would  know 
what  is  being  done  to  check  these  diseases  in  Italy, 
India,  China,  Africa,  and  America,  must  read  Prof. 
Ross'  Malarial  Feve?',  its  Cause,  Prevention,  and  Treatment 
(1902),  and  Mosquito  Brigades,  and  how  to  organise  them 
(1902).  There  has  been  nothing  like  it  since  Pasteur 
died.  Far  and  wide,  from  Staten  Island  to  Cuba,  from 
Hong  Kong  to  Lagos,  the  work  of  keeping  down  the 
larvae  of  Anopheles  and  Culcx  is  going  on.  Henceforth 
we  have  to  reckon  not  with  a  nameless  something,  but  with 
a  definite  parasite,  whose  conditions  of  life  are  known. 
Before  all  things,  we  must  shut  off  the  sources  of  the  in- 
fection. For  centuries,  men  had  believed  in  exhalations 
and  miasmata  13'ing  all  over  the  land  :  and,  behold,  the 
agents  of  malaria  are  in  the  puddles  round  a  man's 
house,  and  the  agents  of  j^ellow  fever  are  in  the  water- 
butt  and  the  broken  bottles  and  old  sardine-tins. 
Science  has  given  the  word,  and  now  there  are  Ano- 
pheles brigades  and  Culex  brigades  set  going ;  labourers 
with  brooms  and  rubbish-carts,  sweeping  out  the  stagnant 
pools,  draining  the  surface  soil,  and  carrying  off  the  odd 
receptacles  that  serve  to  hold  mosquito  eggs  and  larvae. 
The  job,  like  all  sanitary  jobs,  must  be  steady,  year  in, 
year  out  :  it  must  be  limited  to  infected  places,  a  whole 
continent  cannot  be  treated.  But  there  the  work  is, 
and  will  grow  ;  and  saves,  b}'  unskilled  labour,  and  at 
a  trivial  expense,  those  "  non-acclimatised  ''  lives  that 
have  hitherto  been  thrown  away  as  recklessly  as  the 
larvae  that  are  now  swept  out  of  the  puddles  and  ditches 
round  African  settlements. 


XI 

PARASITIC   DISEASES 

The  foregoing  chapters  are  concerned  with  bacteriology 
alone,  and  with  those  curative  or  preventive  methods  of 
treatment  that  have  come  out  of  inoculation-experiments 
on  animals.  The  lives  that  are  saved,  or  safeguarded, 
by  these  methods,  even  in  one  year,  must  be  many 
thousands  in  each  country  of  the  civilised  world.  And, 
beside  human  lives,  there  is  the  protection  of  sheep 
and  cattle  against  anthrax,  swine  against  rouget,  horses 
against  tetanus,  cattle  against  rinderpest.  In  Cape 
Colony  alone,  so  far  back  as  1899,  about  half  a  million 
cattle  had  received  preventive  treatment  against  rinder- 
pest ;  and  the  sum  total  of  human  and  animal  lives 
saved  or  safeguarded,  in  all  parts  of  the  world,  must 
be  reckoned  in  millions  by  this  time. 

The  present  chapter,  and  the  next  two  chapters,  are 
concerned  with  methods  that  have  come  out  of  experi- 
ments on  animals,  but  not  out  of  bacteriology. 

It  is  plain  that  the  grosser  parasites  of  the  human 
body,  tapeworms  and  the  like,  could  not  be  explained 
or  understood  without  the  help  of  feeding-experiments 
on  animals.  By  this  method,  and  by  this  alone,  their 
life-history  was  discovered.  They  were  known  to 
Aristotle  and  to  Hippocrates  ;  but  nothing  was  under- 
stood about  them.  They  were  never  studied,  for  this 
among  other  reasons,  that  men  believed  in  spontaneous 

243 


244  EXPERIMENTS   ON    ANIMALS 

generation  ;  and  the  presence  of  lower  forms  of  life 
inside  human  bodies  was  attributed  to  the  fault  of  the 
patient,  or  the  work  of  the  devil.  Then,  at  last,  Redi 
(1 7 1 2),  and  Swammerdam  (1752)  in  his  Bibel  der 
Natur,  struck  at  the  doctrine  of  spontaneous  generation, 
sa3'ing  that  it  did  not  appl}-  to  insects;  and  in  1781 
Pallas  boldl}^  declared  that  the  internal  parasites  of 
man  came  out  of  eggs,  like  insects,  and  not  ''  of  them- 
selves." It  would  be  a  good  theme  for  an  essay — 
TJie  paralysing  effect^  on  medicine  and  surgeryj  of  the 
doctrine  of  spontaneous  generation.  Rudolphi  (1808) 
and  Bremser  (18 19)  opposed  Pallas  ;  and  von  Siebold 
(1835)  and  Eschricht  (1837)  supported  him.  Then 
came  the  great  students  of  this  part  of  biology — 
Cobbold,  Busk,  Davaine,  van  Beneden,  Leuckart, 
Kuchenmeister.  In  1842,  Steenstrup  had  discovered, 
in  certain  insects,  the  alternation  of  generations ;  in 
1852,  Klichenmeister  proved  that  the  generations  of 
internal  parasites  are  similarly  alternate.  By  feeding 
carnivorous  animals  with  ''  measly "  meat,  he  produced 
tapeworms  in  them  ;  and  b}^  feeding  herbivorous 
animals  with  the  ova  of  tapeworms,  he  made  their 
muscles   ''measly." 

The  feeding  of  animals  was  the  only  possible  way 
to  understand  the  bewildering  transformations  and 
transmigrations  of  the  thirt}^  or  more  entozoa  to  which 
flesh  is  heir.  This  chapter  of  pathology  makes  up  in 
tragedy  what  it  lacks  in  romance  ;  for  these  animal 
parasites  have  killed  whole  hosts  of  people.  Take, 
for  instance,  the  trichina  spiralis,  a  minute  worm  dis- 
covered in  1835  encysted  in  countless  numbers  in  the 
muscles  of  the  human  body  ;  it  was  studied  by 
Virchow,  Leuckart,  and  others,  by  feeding-experiments 
on    animals,    and    was    proved    to    come    from    infected 


PARASITIC    DISEASES  245 

half-cooked  ham  and  pork,  and  to  make  its  way  from 
the  alimentary  canal  all  over  the  body.  The  name  of 
trichiniasis  or  trichina-fever  was  given  to  the  acute 
illness  that  came  of  the  sudden  dissemination  of  these 
myriad  parasites  into  the  tissues.  Trichiniasis  had 
killed  hundreds  of  people  by  a  most  painful  death  ; 
outbreaks  of  it,  in  Germany  and  elsewhere,  had  swept 
through  villages  like  cholera  or  plague  :  then  Leuckart 
and  Virchow  traced  it  to  its  source,  and  it  was  stopped 
there — A  bovc  all  things,  we  must  shut  off  the  sources  oj 
the  infection  —  the  butchers'  shops  were  kept  under 
sanitary  inspection,  people  were  warned  against  half- 
cooked  ham  and  pork,  and  there  was  an  end  of  it. 

Or  take  hydatid  disease,  which  occurs  in  all  parts 
of  the  world,  and  in  some  countries  (Australia,  Iceland) 
is  terribly  common.  The  nature  of  this  disease — 
that  it  is  an  animal  parasite  transmissible  between 
men  and  dogs — was  proved  by  feeding-experiments  on 
animals.  In  Iceland,  where  men  and  dogs  live  crowded 
together  in  huts,  there  is  an  appalling  number  of  deaths 
from  hydatid  disease  ;   Leuckart,  in   1863,  said  of  it: — 

"  At  present,  almost  the  sixth  part  of  all  the  inhabitants 
annually  dying  in  Iceland  fall  victims  to  the  echinococcus 
epidemic." 

Before  Kiichenmeister's  experiments  in  1852,  there 
was  no  general  knowledge  of  the  exact  pathology  of 
entozoic  disease.  The  advance  was  not  made  by  the 
experimental  method  alone  ;  other  things  helped  :  but 
among  them  was  neither  clinical  experience,  nor  what 
Sir  Charles  Bell  called  "  the  observation  of  the  just 
facts  of  anatomy  and  of  natural  motions." 


246  EXPERIMENTS    ON    ANIMALS 

Beside  the  entozoa,  there  are  also  vegetable  para- 
sites. Of  these,  the  most  important  is  the  streptothrix 
adijiomyces,  the  cause  of  actinomycosis  in  man  and 
cattle.  Israel,  in  1877,  gave  the  first  accurate  account 
of  it  in  man  ;  and  Bollinger,  the  same  year,  studied 
it  in  cattle.  Ponfick,  in  1882,  recognised  the  identity 
of  the  disease  in  man  and  animals.  In  1885,  Israel 
published  the  collected  records  of  37  cases  in  man, 
tabulated  according  to  the  site  of  the  primary  infection. 
Bostrom,  about  this  time,  made  cultures  of  the  fungus  : 
but  all  the  earlier  attempts  at  inoculation  failed  ;  and 
it  was  not  till  189 1  that  Wolff  and  Israel  published 
their  successful  inoculations,  and  thus  completed  the 
evidence  that  actinomycosis  is  a  parasitic  infection,  a 
growth  of  vegetable  threads  and  spores,  transmissible 
between  men  and  animals,  and  able  to  keep  its  vitality 
outside  its  host  ;  so  that  men  who  are  employed  with 
cattle,  or  have  the  habit  of  chewing  straws  or  ears  of 
corn,  incur  some  slight  risk  of  infection.  Before  1877, 
the  disease  was  hardly  suspected  in  man,  and  was  not 
understood  in  cattle. 


XII 

MYXCEDEMA 

On  4th  October  1873,  Sir  William  Gull  read  a  short 
paper  before  the  Clinical  Society  of  London,  "  On  a 
Cretinoid  State  supervening  in  Adult  Life  in  Women." 
This  famous  first  account  of  myxoedema  was  based  on 
five  cases  :  it  is  less  than  five  pages  long,  it  does  not 
suggest  a  name  for  the  disease,  and  it  says  nothing 
about  the  th3Toid  gland.  Four  years  later  (23rd 
October  1877),  Dr.  Ord  read  a  paper  before  the 
Medico-Chirurgical  Society  of  London,  "  On  Myxoe- 
dema ;  a  term  proposed  to  be  applied  to  an  essential 
condition  in  the  *  Cretinoid '  Affection  occasionally 
observed  in  Middle-aged  Women."  His  work  had 
begun  so  far  back  as  1861;  and  in  this  1877  paper 
he  gave  not  only  clinical  observations,  but  also  patho- 
logical and  chemical  facts  ;  and  he  noted,  as  one  among 
many  changes,  wasting  of  the  thyroid  gland.  He  also 
pointed  out  the  close  resemblance  between  cases  of 
myxoedema  and   cases  of  sporadic  cretinism. 

In  1882,  Reverdin  stated  before  the  Medical  Society 
of  Geneva  that  signs  like  those  of  myxoedema  had  been 
observed  in  some  cases  of  removal  of  the  thyroid  gland 
on  account  of  disease  (goitre).  In  April  1883,  Kocher 
of  Berne  read  a  paper  on  this  subject,  before  the 
Congress    of    German     Surgeons  ;     but    he    attributed 

this   myxoedema   after  removal   of  the  gland   (cachexia 

247 


248  EXPERIMENTS   ON    ANIMALS 

strumipriva)  not  directly  to  the  loss  of  thyroid-tissue, 
but  rather  to  some  sort  of  interference  with  free 
respiration,  due  to  operation.  On  23rd  November, 
Sir  Felix  Semon  brought  the  subject  again  before  the 
Clinical  Society;  and  on  14th  December  1883,  the 
Society  appointed  a  Committee  of  Investigation  to 
study  the  whole  question. 

Their  report,  215  pages  long,  with  tabulated  records 
of  I  19  cases  of  myxoedema,  was  published  in  1888.  It 
is  a  monument  of  good  work,  historical,  clinical,  patho- 
logical, chemical,  and  experimental.  Twenty  years  ago, 
the  purpose  of  the  thyroid  gland  was  unknown  :  a  few 
experiments  had  been  made  on  it,  by  Sir  Astley  Cooper 
and  others,  and  had  failed  ;  and  Claude  Bernard,  in  his 
Physiologic  Operatoire  (published  in  1879,  soon  after  his 
death),  makes  it  clear  that  nothing  was  known  in  his 
time  about  it.  He  is  emphasising  the  fact  that  anatomy 
cannot  make  the  discoveries  of  physiology  : — 

**  The  descriptive  anatomy,  and  the  microscopic  charac- 
ters, of  the  thyroid  gland,  the  facts  about  its  blood-vessels 
and  its  lymphatics — are  not  all  these  as  well  known  in 
the  thyroid  gland  as  in  other  organs  ?  Is  not  the  same 
thing  true  of  the  thymus  gland,  and  the  suprarenal 
capsules  ?  Yet  we  know  absolutely  nothing  about  the 
functions  of  these  organs — we  have  not  so  much  as  an 
idea  what  use  and  importance  they  may  possess — because 
experiments  have  told  us  nothing  about  them  ;  and  ana- 
tomy, left  to  itself,  is  absolutely  silent  on  the  subject." 

Therefore,  in  1882—83,  things  stood  at  this  point — 
that  the  removal  of  a  diseased  thyroid  gland  had  been 
followed,  in  some  cases,  by  a  train  of  symptoms  such  as 
Sir  William  Gull  had  recorded  in  1873.  Would  the 
same  symptoms  follow  removal  of  the  healthy  gland  ? 
The  answer  was  given  by  Sir  Victor  Horsley's  experi- 


MYXCEDEMA  249 

ments,  begun  in  1S84.  He  was  able,  by  removal  of 
the  gland,  to  produce  in  monkeys  a  chronic  myxoedema, 
a  cretinoid  state,  the  facsimile  of  the  disease  in  man  : 
the  same  symptoms,  course,  tissue-changes,  the  same 
physical  and  mental  hebetude,  the  same  alterations  of 
the  excretions,  the  temperature,  and  the  voice.  It  was 
now  past  doubt  that  myxoedema  was  due  to  want  of 
thyroid-tissue,  and  to  that  alone  ;  and  that  "  cachexia 
strumipriva  "  was  due  to  the  loss,  by  operation,  of  such 
remnants  of  the  gland  as  had  not  been  rendered  useless 
by  disease. 

The  advance  had  still  to  be  made  from  pathology  to 
treatment.  Here,  so  far  as  England  is  concerned, 
honour  is  again  due  to  Sir  Victor  Horsley.  On  8th 
February  1890,  he  published  the  suggestion  that 
thyroid-tissue,  from  an  animal  just  killed,  should  be 
transplanted  beneath  the  skin  of  a  myxoedematous 
patient : — 

**  The  justification  of  this  procedure  rested  on  the  re- 
markable experiments  of  Schift'  and  von  Eisselsberg.  I 
only  became  aware  in  April  1890,  that  this  proposal  had 
been  in  fact  forestalled  in  1889  b}^  Dr.  Bircher,  in  Aarau. 
(The  date  of  Dr.  Bircher's  operation  was  i6th  January 
1889.)  Kocher  had  tried  to  do  the  same  thing  in  1883, 
but  the  graft  was  soon  absorbed;  but  early  in  1889  he 
tried  it  again,  in  five  cases,  and  one  greatly  improved." 

The  importance  of  this  treatment,  b}'-  transplantation 
of  living  thyroid-tissue,  must  be  judged  by  the  fact 
that  in  1888  no  practical  use  had  yet  been  made  of 
the  scientific  work  that  had  been  done.  The  Clinical 
Society's  Report,  published  that  year,  gives  but  half  a 
page  to  treatment,  of  the  old-fashioned  sort  ;  and  not 
a  word  of  hope. 


250  EXPERIMENTS   ON   ANIMALS 

Then,  at  last,  in  1891,  came  Dr.  George  Murray's 
paper  in  the  British  Medical  Journal^  ^'  Note  on  the 
Treatment  of  Myxoedema  by  Hypodermic  Injections  of 
an  Extract  of  the  Thyroid  Gland  of  a  Sheep."  Later, 
hypodermic  injections  of  thyroid-extract  gave  way  to 
sandwiches,  made  with  thyroid  gland  (Dr.  Hector 
Mackenzie,  and  Dr.  Fox  of  Plymouth),  and  these  in 
their   turn   were   eclipsed   by  tabloids. 

It  is  a  strange  sequence,  from  1873  onward  :  clinical 
observation,  post-mortem  work,  calamities  of  surgery', 
experimental  ph3'siology,  transplantation,  hypodermic  in- 
jections, sandwiches,  and  tabloids.  And  far  more  has 
been  achieved  than  the  cure  of  myxoedema.  Even  if 
the  discovery  stopped  here,  it  would  still  be  a  miracle 
that  little  bottles  of  tabloids  should  bring  men  and 
women  back  from  myxoedema  to  what  they  were  before 
they  became  thick-witted,  slow,  changed  almost  past 
recognition,  drifting  toward  idiocy.  But  it  does  not 
stop  here.  The  same  treatment  has  given  good  results 
in  countless  cases  of  sporadic  cretinism,  restoring 
growth  of  body  and  of  mind  to  children  that  were 
hopelessly  imbecile.  It  is  of  great  value  also  for 
certain  diseases  of  the  skin.  Moreover,  physiology 
has  gained  knowledge  of  the  purpose  of  the  thyroid 
gland,  and  'a  clearer  insight  into  the  facts  relating  to 
internal  secretion. 


XIII 

THE    ACTION    OF    DRUGS 

Long  after  the  Renaissance,  the  practice  of  medicine 
was  still  under  the  influence  of  magic.  Whatever 
things  were  rare  and  precious  were  held  to  be  good 
against  disease — gold,  amber,  coral,  pearls,  and  the 
dust  of  mummies  ;  whatever  took  strange  forms  of 
life — toads,  earthworms,  and  the  like  ;  whatever  looked 
like  the  disease,  after  the  doctrine  of  signatures — pul- 
monaria  for  the  lungs,  because  the  spots  on  its  leaves 
were  like  tubercle,  a  kidney-shaped  fruit  for  the 
kidneys,  a  heart-shaped  fruit  for  the  heart,  and  yellow 
carrots  for  the  yellow  jaundice.  Among  the  drugs  in 
the  1618  Pharmacopoeia  are  cranium  Iiumaniim,  inan- 
dibula  Iticiiy  nidus  hirundiniint,  sericum  crudtun,  liniini 
vivum,  and  piliis  salamandrce.  In  the  Pharmacopoeia 
of  1667  are  exiivicc  serpentis,  telce  araneartim,  saliva 
jejuni^  cranium  hominis  violenid  morte  extincti,  and  worse 
obscenities. 

Soon  after  the  publication  of  this  Pharmacopoeia,  on 
14th  February  1685,  King  Charles  II.  died;  and  in 
the  Library  of  the  Society  of  Antiquaries  there  is  a 
manuscript  account  in  Latin,  by  Dr.  Scarbrugh,  how 
the  case  was  treated.  The  King  had  sixteen  physicians, 
and  nine  consultations  in  five  days  ;  and  to  say  "  every- 
thing was  done  that  was  possible  "  gives  no  idea  of  the 

vigour  of  the  treatment.      Finally,  the  day  he  died,  they 

251 


252  EXPERIMENTS    ON    ANIMALS 

gave  him,  eleven  of  them  in  consuhation — totus  medi- 
corum  chorus  ab  onini  spe  destitutiis — they  gave  him,  as 
more  generous  cardiacs^  the  lapis  Goce^  and  the  Bezoar- 
stone.  The  lapis  Goa^  was  a  dust  of  topaz,  jacinth, 
sapphire,  ruby,  pearl,  emerald,  bezoar,  coral,  musk, 
ambergris,  and  gold,  all  made  into  a  pill  and  polished  ; 
and  the  hezoar  is  a  calculus  found  in  the  intestmes  of 
herbivorous  animals.  Half  a  century  later,  the  Phar- 
macopoeia of  172  I  still  included  ants'  eggs,  teeth,  lapis 
nephriticus,  and  other  horrors  ;  and  in  the  Pharma- 
copoeia of  I  746,  though  the  dust  of  Egyptian  mummies 
was  ruled  out,  vipers  and  wood-lice  were  retained. 

Certainly  these  "  last  enchantments  of  the  Middle 
Ages  "  were  slow  to  depart.  Clinical  observation,  ana- 
tomy, and  pathology,  had  all  failed  to  bring  about  a 
right  understanding  of  the  actions  of  drugs.  It  was 
the  physiologists,  not  the  doctors,  who  first  formu- 
lated the  exact  use  of  drugs  ;  it  was  Bichat,  Magendie, 
and  Claude  Bernard.  That  is  the  whole  meaning  of 
Magendie's  work  on  the  upas-poison  and  on  strych- 
nine, and  Claude  Bernard's  work  on  curari  and 
digitalis.  Of  these  four  substances,  two  only  are  of 
any  use  in  practice  ;  yet  Magendie's  study  of  strych- 
nine ^  was  of  immeasurable  value,  not  so  much 
because  it  gave  the  doctors  a  "  more  generous 
cardiac,"  though  that  was  a  great  gift,  but  because 
it  revealed  the  selective  action  of  drugs.  Contrast  his 
account  of  strychnine  with  Ambroise  Pare's  story  how 
they  tested  the  bezoar-stone  on  the  thief  instead  of 
hanging  him  ;  contrast  Bernard's  chapter  on  curari 
with   Dr.  Scarbrugh's  notes  on  the   King's   death,  with 

1  For  a  full  statement  of  the  great  value  of  this  study  of 
strychnine,  see  CI.  Bernard,  Legons  de  Physiologie  OperatoirCy 
1879,  p.  89. 


THE   ACTION   OF    DRUGS  253 

all  the  Crown  jewels  inside  him :  you  are  in  two 
different  worlds.  The  selective  action  of  drugs — the 
affinity  between  strychnine  and  the  central  nerve-cells, 
between  curari  and  the  terminal  filaments  of  the  motor 
nerves — that  was  the  revolutionary  teaching  of  science  : 
and  it  came,  not  by  experience,  but  by  experiment. 

Take  Professor  Eraser's  address  on  "  The  Action 
of  Remedies,  and  the  Experimental  Method "  at  the 
International  Medical  Congress  in  London,  188  I  : — 

''The  introduction  of  this  method  is  due  to  Bichat ; 
and,  by  its  subsequent  application  by  Magendie,  pharma- 
cology was  originated  as  the  science  we  now  recognise. 
Bichat  represents  a  transition  state,  in  which  metaph3'sical 
conceptions  were  mingled  with  the  results  of  experience. 
Magendie  more  clearly  recognised  the  danger  of  adopting 
theories,  in  the  existing  imperfections  of  knowledge  ;  and 
devoted  himself  to  the  supplementing  of  these  imper- 
fections by  experiments  on  living  animals.  The  advan- 
tages of  such  experiments  he  early  illustrated  by  his 
investigation  on  the  upas-poison ;  and  afterwards  by  a 
research  on  the  then  newly-discovered  alkaloid,  strj'chnia. 
.  .  .  He  demonstrated  the  action  of  this  substance  upon 
the  spinal  cord,  by  experiments  upon  the  low^er  animals, 
so  thoroughh',  that  subsequent  investigations  have  added 
but  little  to  his  results." 

Or  take  Professor  Eraser's  account  of  digitalis  : — 

"  It  was  introduced  as  a  remedy  for  dropsy ;  and,  on 
the  applications  which  were  made  of  it  for  the  treatment 
of  that  disease,  a  slowing  action  upon  the  cardiac  move- 
ments was  observed,  which  led  to  its  acquiring  the  re- 
putation of  a  cardiac  sedative.  Numerous  observations 
were  made  on  man  by  the  originators  of  its  application, 
by  Dr.  Sanders  and  many  other  physicians,  in  which 
special  attention  was  paid  to  its  eff'ects  upon  the  circula- 
tion ;  but  no  further  light  was  thrown  upon  its  remark- 


254  EXPERIMENTS   ON    ANIMALS 

able  properties,  with  the  unimportant  exception  that  in 
some  cases  it  was  found  to  excite  the  circulation.  It 
was  not  until  the  experimental  method  was  applied  in 
its  investigation,  in  the  first  instance  b}^  Claude  Bernard, 
and  subsequently  by  Dybkowsky,  Pelikan,  Meyer,  Boehm, 
and'Schmiedeberg,  that  the  true  action  of  digitahs  upon  the 
circulation  was  discovered.  It  was  shown  that  the  effects 
upon  the  circulation  were  not  in  any  exact  sense  sedative, 
but,  on  the  contrary,  stimulant  and  tonic,  rendering  the 
action  of  the  heart  more  powerful,  and  increasing  the 
tension  in  the  blood-vessels.  The  indications  for  its  use 
in  disease  were  thereby  revolutionised,  and  at  the  same 
time  rendered  more  exact ;  and  the  striking  benefits  which 
are  now  afforded  by  the  use  of  this  substance  in  most 
(cardiac)  diseases  were  made  available  to  humanity." 

Or  take  Sir  T.  Lauder  Brunton's  account  of  the 
action  of  nitrite  of  amyl  in  angina  pectoris  : — 

*'  The  action  of  nitrite  of  amyl  in  causing  flushing  was 
first  observed  by  Guthrie,  and  Sir  B.  W.  Richardson 
recommended  it  as  a  remedy  in  spasmodic  conditions, 
from  the  power  he  thought  it  to  possess  of  paralysing 
motor  nerves.  In  the  spring  of  1867  I  had  opportuni- 
ties of  constantly  observing  a  patient  who  suffered  from 
angina  pectoris,  and  of  obtaining  from  him  numerous 
sphygmographic  tracings,  both  during  the  attack  and 
during  the  interval.  These  showed  that  during  the 
attack  the  pulse  became  quicker,  the  blood-pressure 
rose,  and  the  arterioles  contracted.  ...  It  seemed  pro- 
bable that  the  great  rise  in  tension  was  the  cause  of  the 
pain,  and  it  occurred  to  me  that  if  it  was  possible  to 
diminish  the  tension  by  drugs  instead  of  by  bleeding, 
the  pain  would  be  removed. 

**  I  knew  from  unpublished  experiments  on  animals  by 
Dr.  A.  Gamgee  that  nitrite  of  amyl  had  this  power,  and 
therefore  tried  it  on  the  patient.  My  expectations  were 
perfectly  answered.  The  pain  usually  disappeared  in 
three-quarters   of  a   minute   after   the   inhalation   began, 


THE   ACTION    OF    DRUGS  255 

and  at  the  same  time  the  pulse  became  slower  and  much 
fuller,  and  the  tension  diminished." 

Of  course  it  would  be  easy  to  lengthen  out  the  list. 
Aconite,  adrenalin,  belladonna,  calcium  chloride,  colchi- 
cum,  cocain,  chloral,  ergot,  morphia,  salicylic  acid, 
strophanthus,  the  chief  diuretics,  the  chief  diaphoretics 
— all  these  drugs,  and  many  more,  have  been  studied 
and  learned  by  experiments  on  animals.  Then  comes 
the  answer,  that  drugs  act  differently  on  animals  and 
on  men.  The  few  instances,  that  give  a  wise  air  to 
this  foolish  answer,  were  known  long  ago  to  every- 
body :  they  do  not  so  much  as  touch  the  facts  of  daily 
practice  : — 

"  The  action  of  drugs  on  man  differs  from  that  on  the 
lower  animals  chiefly  in  respect  to  the  brain,  which  is 
so  much  more  greatly  developed  in  man.  Where  the 
structure  of  an  organ  or  tissue  is  nearly  the  same  in 
man  and  in  the  lower  animals,  the  action  of  drugs  upon 
it  is  similar.  Thus  we  find  that  carbonic  oxide,  and 
nitrites,  produce  similar  changes  in  the  blood  of  frogs, 
dogs,  and  man,  that  curare  paralyses  the  motor  nerves, 
alike  in  them  all,  and  veratria  exerts  upon  the  muscles  of 
each  its  peculiar  stimulant  and  paralysing  action.  Where 
differences  exist  in  the  structure  of  the  various  organs, 
we  find,  as  we  would  naturally  expect,  differences  in  their 
reaction  to  drugs.  Thus  the  heart  of  the  frog  is  simpler 
than  that  of  dogs  or  men,  and  less  affected  by  the  central 
nervous  system ;  we  consequently  find  that  while  such  a 
drug  as  digitalis  has  a  somewhat  similar  action  upon  the 
hearts  of  frogs,  dogs,  and  men,  there  are  certain  differ- 
ences between  its  effect  upon  the  heart  of  a  frog  and  on 
that  of  mammals. 

"  Belladonna  offers  another  example  of  apparent  differ- 
ence in  action — a  considerable  dose  of  belladonna  will 
produce  almost  no  apparent  effect  upon  a  rabbit,  while  a 
smaller  dose  in  a  dog  or  a  man  would  cause  the  rapidity 


256  EXPERIMENTS    ON    ANIMALS 

of  the  pulse  to  be  nearly  doubled.  Yet  in  all  three — 
rabbits,  dogs,  and  men — belladonna  paralyses  the  power 
of  the  vagus  over  the  heart.  The  difference  is  that  in 
rabbits  the  vagus  normally  exerts  but  little  action  on  the 
heart,  and  the  effect  of  its  paralysis  is  consequently  slight 
or  hardly  appreciable."     (Professor  Eraser.) 

It  would  be  strange  indeed,  if  experts  who  work  in 
micromillimetres  and  decimal  milligrammes,  and  study 
the  vanishing-point  of  microscopic  structures,  and 
measure  and  ordain  infinitesimal  changes  in  invisible 
organisms,  were  blind  to  such  gross  and  palpable 
differences  as  exist  between  men  and  pigeons  in  their 
susceptibility   to   a  dose  of  opium. 

Anaesthetics  must  be  reckoned  among  the  drugs  that 
have  been  studied  on  animals  :  but,  for  the  discovery  of 
them,  men  experimented  on  themselves.  The  first  use 
of  nitrous  oxide  (laughing  gas)  in  surgery  was  nth 
December  1844,  when  Horace  Wells,  of  Connecticut, 
had  it  administered  to  himself  for  the  removal  of  a 
tooth.  The  first  use  of  ether  was  made  by  Dr.  Long, 
of  Athens,  Georgia  ;  but  he  did  not  publish  the  case,  or 
follow  up  the  work  :  and  the  honour  of  the  discovery 
of  ether  went  to  Morton,  of  Boston,  who  made  repeated 
experiments,  both  on  animals  and  on  himself.  The 
date  w^hen  he  first  rendered  himself  absolutely  uncon- 
scious for  seven  or  eight  minutes,  is  30th  September 
1846  ;  and  the  first  operation  under  ether  was  done  on 
1 6th  October,  in  the  Massachusetts  General  Hospital. 
The  first  use  of  chloroform  was  4th  November  1847, 
that  famous  evening  when  Simpson,  George  Keith,  and 
Matthews  Duncan  took  it  together.  The  whole  history 
of  anaesthesia  is  to  be  found  in  the  Practitioner y  Oct.  1 896. 

It  is  sometimes  said  that  the  men  who  make  experi- 
ments on  animals  ought   to   make  them  on  themselves. 


THE    ACTION    OF    DRUGS  257 

But  they  do,  hundreds  of  them,  and  suffer  for  it: 
Heaven  knows  the  Hst  is  long  enough — the  discoverers 
of  anaesthesia,  Hunter,  Garre,  Koch,  Klein,  Moor,  Haff- 
kine,  Grassi,  Bochefontaine,  Quesada,  Sanarelli,  Petten- 
kofer — these  and  hosts  more,  here  or  abroad,  have  done 
it,  as  part  of  the  day's  work  ;  and  some — by  accidental 
infection,  like  Chabry  and  Villa,  or  by  deliberate  self- 
inoculation,  like  Carrion — have  been  killed  : — 

'*  Dr.  Angelo  Knorrj  Privat-docent  in  the  Veterinary 
School  of  Munich,  died  on  22nd  February  from  acute 
glanders,  contracted  in  the  course  of  an  experimental 
research  on  mallein.  Helmann,  the  Russian  investigator 
who  discovered  mallein,  himself  fell  a  victim  to  accidental 
inoculation  of  the  glanders  virus.  Some  time  afterwards 
another  Russian,  Protopopow,  died  of  glanders  contracted 
in  a  French  laboratory.  An  Austrian  physician,  Dr. 
Koffman-Wellenhof,  died  of  the  same  disease,  contracted 
in  the  Institute  of  Hygiene  at  Vienna.  On  17th  January 
of  the  present  year  Dr.  Guiseppe  Bosso,  of  the  University 
of  Turin,  died  of  infection  contracted  in  the  course  of 
cultivations  of  tubercle-bacilli  made  in  his  laboratory. 
Not  long  before,  Dr  Lola,  assistant  in  the  maternity 
department  of  the  Czech  University  Hospital  of  Prague, 
died  of  tetanus  caused  b}'  an  experimental  inoculation 
made  on  himself  Some  fourteen  or  fifteen  years  ago,  a 
medical  student  of  Lima  proved  that  *  verruga  Peruana ' 
is  an  infectious  disease  by  inoculating  himself  with  it,  an 
act  of  scientific  devotion  which  cost  him  his  life.^  Besides 
those  who  have  died,  there  are  many  who  have  only 
escaped  with  their  lives  after  long  and  painful  illness. 
Professor  Kourloff  contracted  anthrax  in  a  laborator}-  at 
Munich,  and  was  saved  only  by  vigorous  surgery.  Dr. 
Nicolas  supplied,  in  his  own  person,  the  first  example  of 
tetanus  produced  in  man  by  inoculation  of  the  pure  toxin 

^  Daniel  Carrion,  born  1859  at  Cerro  de  Pasco,  proved,  by  self- 
inoculation,  the  identity  of  the  two  forms  of  the  disease,  27th 
August  1885  ;  died  of  the  disease,  5th  October.  See  Ann.  de 
rinst.  Past.,  Sept.  1898. 

R 


258  EXPERIMENTS   ON    ANIMALS 

of  the  bacillus  of  Nicolaier."     {Brit,  Med.  Journal^  i8th 
March  1899.) 

This  list  is  seven  years  old  now  ;  it  is  twice  the 
length  by  this  time.  Typhoid,  malaria,  yellow  fever, 
have  all  taken  toll  of  those  who  study  them.  It  is  a 
long  record  of  the  men  who  fell  ill,  or  died,  or  killed 
themselves  over  their  work  ;  and  the  deaths  of  Barisch, 
Dr.  Miiller,  and  Nurse  Pecha,  from  plague  at  Vienna 
(October  1898)  are  another  instance  that  there  is 
danger  in  the  constant  handling  of  cultures.  But  these 
deaths  at  Vienna  were  due  to  the  great  carelessness 
of  one  man.  In  laboratories  in  all  parts  of  the  world 
there  are  stored  cultures  of  all  sorts  of  organisms,  yet 
no  harm  comes  of  it.  ''  More  cases  of  infection  occur 
amongst  3'oung  medical  men  attending  fever  cases, 
whether  in  private  practice  or  hospital  wards,  in  a 
single  month,  than  have  occurred  in  the  whole  of  the 
laboratories  in  the  world  since  they  were  established." 
{British  Medical  Jour nat^  29th  October  1898.)  Outside 
the  laboratory,  outside  the  fever  hospitals,  the  risk  is 
something  less  than  a  negligible  quantity : — 

*'  Apart  from  plague  and  cholera,  in  all  the  big  labora- 
tories studies  are  uninterruptedly  pursued,  from  one  end 
of  the  year  to  the  other,  upon  anthrax,  glanders,  influenza, 
Malta  fever,  various  tropical  diseases  which  do  not  exist 
at  all  or  are  rare  in  the  countries  where  they  are  being 
studied.  The  laboratories  in  question  are  situated  in  the 
largest  and  most  important  towns  of  their  respective 
countries;  and,  within  those  towns,  very  often  in  the 
most  fashionable  or  most  populous  centres.  .  .  .  On  no 
occasion  was  there  even  a  suspicion  aroused  of  an 
epidemic  having  been  produced  by  any  of  the  above- 
mentioned  institutes,  or  by  those  tens  of  thousands  of 
operations  against  cholera  performed  in  India."  (Haff- 
kine,  Madras  Mail,  8th  December  1898.) 


XIV 

SNAKE-VENOM 

The  Report  of  the  1875  Commission  said  : — 

"  It  is  not  possible  for  us  to  recommend  that  the 
Indian  Government  should  be  prohibited  from  pursuing 
its  endeavours  to  discover  an  antidote  for  snake-bites  ; 
or  that,  without  such  an  effort,  your  Majesty's  Indian 
subjects  should  be  left  to  perish  in  large  numbers  annually 
from  the  effects  of  these  poisons." 

Certainly  it  was  not  possible ;  and  the  numbers  are 
large  indeed.  During  1897,  4227  persons  were  killed 
by  wild  animals  in  India,  and  20,959  by  snakes. 
{British  Medical  Journal^  5  th  November  1898.) 

Sir  Joseph  Fayrer's  name  must  be  put  in  the  highest 
place  of  all  those  who  have  studied  the  venomous  snakes 
of  India. 

Sewell,  in  1887,  showed  that  animals  could  be 
rendered  immune,  by  repeated  inoculation  with  minute 
quantities  of  rattlesnake-venom,  to  a  dose  seven  times 
as  large  as  would  kill  an  unprotected  animal.  Kan- 
thack,  in  1891,  immunised  animals  in  the  same  way 
against  cobra-venom.  He  also  made  experiments  to 
ascertain  whether  the  blood-serum  of  these  animals 
acted  as  an  antidote  to  the  venom.  Then  came  the 
work  of  Calmette,  Eraser,  Phisalix,  Bertrand,  Martin 
(Australia),  Stephens,  and   Meyers.      Professor  Eraser's 

observations  on  the  antidotal  properties  of  the  bile  are, 

259 


26o  EXPERIMENTS   ON   ANIMALS 

of  course,  of  the  utmost  importance  ;  not  only  in  pre- 
ventive medicine,  but  also  in  physiology.  The  results 
obtained  by  Calmette  are  a  good  instance  of  the  fine- 
ness and  accuracy  of  the  experimental  method.  It  is 
to  be  noted  that  the  animals  were  inoculated  with  a 
fine  needle,  not  thrust  into  cages  with  snakes,  as  at 
zoological  gardens  ;  and  that  an  animal  thus  poisoned 
has  a  painless  death.  The  different  venoms  were 
measured  in  decimal  milligrammes,  and  their  potency 
was  estimated  according  to  the  body-weight  of  the 
animal  inoculated.  As  with  tetanus,  so  with  snake- 
venom,  there  must  be  a  standard,  or  '*  unit  of  toxicity." 

**The  following  table  gives  the  relative  toxicity,  for 
I  kilogr.  of  rabbit,  of  the  different  venoms  that  I  have 
tested.  To  denote  this  toxicity  I  use  terms  such  as 
Behring,  Roux,  and  Vaillard  used  for  the  toxin  of 
tetanus,  taking  the  number  of  grammes  of  animal  killed 
by  one  gramme  of  toxin  : — 

1.  Venom  of  naja  .     .     .     0.25  mgr.  per  kilogr.  of  rabbit. 

One  gramme  of  this  venom  kills  4000  kilogrammes  of 

rabbit ;  it  has,  therefore,  an  activity  of 4,000,000 

2.  N QXiOXtv  oi  hoplocephalus 0.29  mgr.      .     .  3,450,000 

3.  Venom  oi psendechis 1.25  mgr.     .     .  800,000 

4.  Venom  oi pelias  berus 4.00  mgr.     .     .  250,000 

*'  Of  course,  this  estimation  of  virulence  is  not  abso- 
lute ;  it  varies  considerably  according  to  the  species  of 
animal  tested.  Thus  the  guinea-pig,  and  still  more  the 
rat,  are  extremely  sensitive.  For  instance,  0.15  mgr.  of 
viper-venom  is  enough  to  kill,  in  less  than  12  hours,  500 
grammes  of  guinea-pig  ;  so  that  the  activity  of  this  venom 
with  a  guinea-pig  is  3,333,000,  but  with  a  rabbit  is  not 
more  than  650,000.  With  more  resistant  animals,  the 
opposite  result  is  obtained;  about  10  mgr.  of  cobra-venom 
are  necessary  to  kill  a  dog  of  6.50  kilogrm.  weight  ;  but 
to  kill  the  same  weight  of  rabbit  1.65  mgr.  is  enough. 
Thus  the  virulence  of  this  venom  with  the  rabbit  is 
4,000,000 ;  but  with  the  dog  not  more  than  650,000." 


SNAKE-VENOM  261 

By  experiments  in  test-tubes,  Calmcttc  studied  these 
venoms  under  the  influences  of  heat  and  various  chemical 
agents.  He  found  how  to  attenuate  their  virulence, 
and  how  to  diminish  the  local  inflammation  round  the 
point  of  inoculation  ;  and  it  was  in  the  course  of  these 
test-tube  experiments  and  inoculations  that  he  dis- 
covered the  value  of  calcium  hypochlorite  as  a  local 
application.  Working,  by  various  methods,  with  at- 
tenuated venoms,  he  was  able  to  immunise  animals  : — 

"  I  have  come  to  immunise  rabbits  against  quantities 
of  venom  that  are  truly  colossal.  I  have  got  several, 
vaccinated  more  than  a  year  ago,  which  take,  without  the 
least  discomfort,  so  much  as  40  mgr.  of  venom  of  naja 
tripudians  at  a  single  injection ;  that  is  to  say,  enough  to 
kill  80  rabbits  of  2  kilogr.  weight,  or  5  dogs. 

'*  Five  drops  of  serum  from  these  rabbits  wholly  neu- 
tralise in  vitro  i\\\  a  glass  test-tube)  the  toxicity  of  I  mgr. 
of  «^*<rz-venom." 

By  1894  he  had  found  that  the  serum  of  an  animal, 
thus  immunised  by  graduated  doses  of  one  kind  of  venom, 
neutralised  other  kinds  of  venom  : — 

'•  If  1  mgr.  of  cobra-venom,  or  4  mgr.  of  viper- venom, 
be  mixed,  in  a  test-tube,  with  a  small  quantity  of  serum 
from  an  immunised  rabbit,  and  a  fresh  rabbit  be  inocu- 
lated with  this  mixture,  it  does  not  suffer  any  discomfort. 
It  is  not  even  necessary  that  the  serum  should  come  from 
an  animal  vaccinated  against  the  same  sort  of  venom  as 
that  in  the  mixture.  The  serum  of  a  rabbit  iinninnised 
against  the  venom  of  the  cobra  or  the  viper  acts  indifferently 
on  all  the  venoms  that  I  have  testedy 

In  1894  he  had  prepared  enough  serum  for  the 
treatment  to  be  tried  by  his  own  countrymen  prac- 
tising in  some  of  the  French  colonies.  In  April  1 895, 
he  gave  the  following  account  of  his  work  : — 


262  EXPERIMENTS   ON    ANIMALS 

"  I  have  immunised  two  asses,  one  having  received 
220  mgr.  of  7taja-\Qnom.  from  25  th  September  to  31st 
December  1894,  and  the  other  160  mgr.  from  15th 
October  to  31st  December.  The  serum  of  the  first  of 
these  two  animals  has  now  reached  this  point,  that 
half  a  cubic  centimetre  destroys  the  toxicity  of  i  mgr. 
of  7t(2Ja-vQ^noii\.  Four  cubic  centimetres  of  this  serum, 
injected  four  hours  before  the  inoculation  of  a  dose  of 
venom  enough  to  kill  twice  over,  preserve  the  animal 
in  every  case.  It  is  also  therapeutic,  under  the  con- 
ditions that  I  have  already  defined ;  that  is  to  say,  if  you 
first  inoculate  a  rabbit  with  such  a  dose  of  venom  as  kills 
the  control-animals  in  three  hours,  and  then,  an  hour  after 
injecting  the  venom,  inject  under  the  skin  of  the  abdomen 
4  to  5  cubic  centimetres  of  serum,  recovery  is  the  rule. 
When  you  interfere  later  than  this  the  results  are  un- 
certain ;  and  in  all  my  experiments  the  delay  of  an  hour 
and  a  half  is  the  most  that  I  have  been  able  to  reach. 

''This  antivenomous  serum  of  asses  has  these  same 
antitoxic  properties  with  all  kinds  of  snake-venom;  it  is 
equally  active  in  vitro,  preventive,  and  therapeutic,  with 
the  venoms  of  cerastes,  of  trigonocepJialus,  of  crotahis^  and 
of  four  kinds  of  Australian  snakes  that  Mr.  MacGarvie 
Smith  has  sent  to  M.  Roux.  I  am  still  injecting  these 
two  animals  with  venom,  and  I  hope  to  give  to  their 
serum  at  last  a  much  greater  antitoxic  power." 

In  1896   four  successful  cases   of  this   treatment  in 
the  human   subject  were  reported  in  the  British  Medical 
Journal.      In  1898  Calmette   made   the   following  state- 
ment of  his  results  : — 

"  It  is  now  nearly  two  years  since  the  use  of  my  anti- 
venomous  serum  was  introduced  in  India,  in  Algeria,  in 
Egypt,  on  the  West  Coast  of  Africa,  in  America,  in  the 
West  Indies,  Antilles,  &c.  It  has  been  very  often  used 
for  men  and  domestic  animals  (dogs,  horses,  oxen),  and 
up  to  now  none  of  those  that  have  received  an  injection 
of  serum    have    succumbed.    ...    A  great   number    of 


SNAKE-VENOM  263 

observations  have  been  communicated  to  me,  and  not  one 
of  them  refers  to  a  case  of  failure."  {British  Medical 
Journal^  14th  May  1898.) 

Good  accounts  of  Eraser's  and  Calmette's  work  are 
given  by  Dr.  Stone  in  the  Boston  Medical  and  Surgical 
Journal,  7th  April  1898,  and  by  Staff-Surgeon  Andrews, 
R.N.,  in  the  British  Medical  Journal,  9th  September 
1899.  For  other  cases  see  the  Pioneer,  loth  August 
1899,  the  Lancet,  25th  November  1899,  and  \.\\^  British 
Medical  Journal,  23  rd  December  1899,  In  one  of  these 
cases,  recorded  by  Dr.  Rennie,  the  patient  was,  literally, 
at  the  point  of  death,  but  recovered  after  the  serum  had 
been  injected.  Two  cases  have  also  been  recorded  of 
cobra-bite  during  work  in  the  laboratory  :  both  of  them 
recovered  after  injection.  "  Every  Government  or 
private  dispensary,"  says  Surgeon  Beveridge,  '*  should 
be  supplied  with  antivenene,  which  is  certainly  the  best 
remedy  for  snake-bite  available."  The  cases  are  few 
at  present ;  but  it  does  not  appear  that  the  treatment 
has  failed  in  any  case ;  and,  with  a  new  remedy  of  this 
kind,  it  is  fairly  certain  that  failures  would  be  published. 


From  all  these  instances  in  physiology,  pathology, 
bacteriology,  and  therapeutics,  we  come  to  consider  the 
Act  relating  to  experiments  on  animals  in  the  United 
Kingdom.  Many  subjects  have  been  left  out ;  among 
them,  the  work  of  the  last  few  years  on  the  suprarenal 
glands  and  adrenalin,  and  Dr.  William  Hunter's  admir- 
able work  on  pernicious  anaemia.  No  attempt  has  been 
made  to  describe  the  researches  of  experts  in  many 
countries  into  the  nature  of  malignant  disease,  or  to 
guess  what  may  come  of  the  discovery  that  mice  can 
be  immunised  against  that  form  of  cancer  which  occurs 


264  EXPERIMENTS   ON    ANIMALS 

in  mice  and  is  inoculable  from  mouse  to  mouse.  Nothing 
has  been  said  of  the  discovery  that  the  African  sleeping- 
sickness  is  due  to  a  blood-parasite  carried  by  flies  from 
man  to  man.  Nothing  has  been  said  about  those  dis- 
coveries in  bacteriology  that  have  not  yet  been  applied 
to  practice,  or  of  the  many  inventions  of  medical  and 
surgical  practice  that  owe  only  an  indirect  debt  to  experi- 
ments on  animals.  Artificial  respiration,  the  transfusion 
of  saline  fluid,  the  hypodermic  admanistration  of  drugs, 
the  use  of  oxygen  for  inhalation,  the  torsion  of  arteries, 
the  grafting  of  skin,  the  transplantation  of  bone,  the 
absorbable  ligature,  the  diagnostic  and  therapeutic  uses 
of  electricity,  the  rational  employment  of  blood-letting 
— all  these  good  methods  have  been  left  out  of  the  list  ; 
only  some  facts  have  been  presented,  those  that  mark 
most  clearly  the  advance  of  knowledge  and  of  practice, 
and  stand  up  even  above  the  rest  of  the  work.  There 
they  will  stand,  when  we  are  all  dead  and  gone  :  and 
by  them,  as  by  landmarks,  all  further  advance  will  be 
guided. 


PART  III 

THE  ACT  RELATING  TO  EXPERIMENTS 

ON  ANIMALS  IN  GREAT  BRITAIN 

AND  IRELAND 


ACT    39    AND    40    VIC.    c.    jy 

The  Royal  Commission  *'  On  the  Practice  of  subjecting 
Live  Animals  to  Experiments  for  Scientific  Purposes," 
was  appointed  on  22nd  June  1875.  ^^^  members  were 
— Lord  Cardwell  (chairman),  Lord  Winmarleigh,  Mr. 
W.  E.  Forster,  Sir  John  Karslake,  Mr.  Huxley,  Mr.  (Sir 
John)  Erichsen,  and  Mr.  Hutton.  Between  5th  July 
and  30th  December,  53  witnesses  were  examined,  and 
6551  questions  were  put  and  answered.  The  report 
of  the  Commission  bears  date  8th  January  1876,  and 
in  that  year  the  present  Act  received  the  Royal  Assent. 

The  evidence  before  the  Commission  was  all,  or 
nearly  all,  concerned  with  physiology,  with  the  work  of 
Magendie,  Claude  Bernard,  and  Sir  Charles  Bell,  the 
action  of  curare,  the  Handbook  of  the  Physiological 
Laboratory,  the  teaching  of  physiology,  and  so  forth. 
Very  little  was  said  of  pathology  ;  and  of  bacteriology 
next  to  nothing.  Practically,  physiology  alone  came 
before  the  Commissioners ;  and  such  experiments  in 
physiology  as  are  now,  the  youngest  of  them,  more 
than  thirty  years  old. 

Bacteriology,  at  the  time  of  the  passing  of  the  Act, 

had    hardly    made    a    beginning.       Therefore    the    Act 

made  no  special  provision   for   inoculations,   injections, 

and   the  whole    study  of  immunisation   of  animals  and 

men  against  disease.      Experiments  of  this  kind  have  to 

be   scheduled  under  one  of  the  existing  certificates,  to 

bring  them  under  an  Act  that  was  drafted  without  fore- 

267 


268  EXPERIMENTS    ON    ANIMALS 

knowledge  of  them.      Certificate  A  or  Certificate  B  has 
to  be  used  for  this  purpose  : — 

Certificate  A. 

**  We  hereby  certify  that,  in  our  opinion,  insensibility 
in  the  animal  on  which  any  such  experiment  may  be 
performed  cannot  be  produced  by  anaesthetics  without 
necessarily  frustrating  the  object  of  such  experiment." 

Certificate  B. 

*^  We  hereby  certify  that,  in  our  opinion,  the  killing  of 
the  animal  on  which  any  such  experiment  is  performed 
before  it  recovers  from  the  influence  of  the  anaesthetic 
administered  to  it,  would  necessarily  frustrate  the  object 
of  such  experiment." 

Under  one  or  other  of  these  certificates  must  be 
scheduled  all  inoculations,  injections,  feeding-experi- 
ments, transplantations  of  particles  of  disease,  immuni- 
sations, and  the  like.  They  must  be  scheduled 
somehow  ;  and  that  is  the  only  way  of  doing  it. 
Where  the  act  of  inducing  the  disease  would  itself 
give  any  pain,  if  an  anaesthetic  were  not  administered 
— as  in  the  subdural  inoculation  of  a  rabbit,  or  the 
intra-peritoneal  inoculation  of  an  animal  with  a  particle 
of  cancerous  tissue — there  the  licensee  must  hold, 
together  with  the  license.  Certificate  B,  because  the  act 
of  inducing  the  disease  is  itself  an  operation,  done 
under  an  anaesthetic.  If  the  animal  be  a  dog  or  a  cat, 
he  must  hold  Certificates  B  and  EE  ;  if  it  be  a  horse, 
ass,  or  mule.  Certificates  B  and  F. 

Where  the  act  of  inducing  the  disease  is  not  itself 
painful — as  in  ordinary  inoculation,  and  in  feeding- 
experiments — the  licensee  must  hold,  together  with  his 


ACT   39   AND   40   VIC.    c.    77  269 

license,  Certificate  A,  because  the  animal  is  not  anaesthe- 
tised. It  is  not  a  painful  operation  ;  the  experiment 
consists  not  in  the  act  of  puttinf^  the  hypodermic  needle 
under  the  animal's  skin,  but  in  the  subsequent  observa- 
tion of  the  course  of  the  disease.  Take,  for  instance, 
the  inoculation  of  a  guinea-pig  with  tubercle-bacilli  :  the 
experiment  is  the  production  of  tubercle  ;  the  experi- 
ment lasts  till  the  animal  is  killed  and  found  to  be 
infected  ;  it  is  therefor^  scheduled  under  Certificate  A. 
Or  take  the  testing,  on  an  animal,  of  an  antitoxin  ;  the 
experiment  is  not  the  injection,  but  the  observation  of 
the  result  ;  the  animal  may  not  suffer,  but  the  injection 
must  still  be  done  under  Certificate  A.  And,  if  the 
animal  be  a  dog  or  a  cat,  the  licensee  must  hold 
Certificates  A  and  E  ;  or,  if  it  be  a  horse,  ass,  or  mule, 
Certificates  A  and  F. 

This  want  of  a  special  certificate  for  inoculations  is 
an  important  matter,  because  it  has  led  to  the  belief  that 
painful  operations  are  performed,  without  anaesthesia,  in 
eases  where  the  only  instrument  used  is  a  needle.  It 
is  hardly  reasonable,  for  instance,  that  the  inoculation 
of  a  mouse  should  be  scheduled  as  a  painful  operation 
performed  without  anaesthesia.  The  disease,  thus  pain- 
lessly induced,  may  in  many  cases  be  called  painless  ; 
for  instance,  snake-venom  in  the  rat,  septicaemia  in  the 
mouse,  malaria  in  small  birds.  In  other  cases,  there 
are  such  pain  and  fever  as  are  part  of  the  disease. 
The  form  that  rabies  take  in  rabbits  may  fairly  be 
called  painless.  Inoculations  not  under  the  skin,  but 
into  the  anterior  chamber  of  the  eye,  are  very  seldom 
made ;  they  sound  cruel,  but  cocain  renders  the  surface 
of  the  eye  wholly  insensitive,  and  the  anterior  chamber 
is  so  far  insensitive  that  a  man  with  blood  or  pus 
{hypopyon)    in    the   anterior    chamber    of  the   eye    may 


270  EXPERIMENTS   ON    ANIMALS 

suffer  no  pain  from  it.  A  horse  or  an  ass  kept  for 
the  giving  of  an  antitoxic  serum  has  a  more  comfort- 
able Hfe  than  an  omnibus  horse  ;  and  this  preparation 
of  the  antitoxins,  since  it  is  not  an  experiment,  but  a 
direct  use  of  animals  in  the  recognised  service  of  man, 
does  not  require  a  license  or  certificates  under  the  Act. 
But  the  testing  of  an  antitoxin  is  an  experiment,  and 
must  be  made  under  a  license  and  Certificate  A. 

It  is  not  the  business  of  this  book  to  consider 
whether  the  sensitiveness  of  a  dog,  a  rabbit,  or  a 
guinea-pig  can  fairly  be  stated  in  terms  of  the  physical 
and  mental  sensitiveness  of  men  and  women.  In  the 
world  of  animals,  as  in  the  world  of  humanity,  there 
are  differences  of  sensitiveness.  Anyhow,  the  pain 
inflicted  on  animals  may  in  some  cases  be  measured  : — 

*'  A  guinea-pig  that  will  rest  quietly  in  your  hands 
before  you  commence  to  inject  it,  will  remain  perfectly 
quiet  during  the  introduction  of  the  needle  under  the 
skin ;  and  the  moment  it  is  returned  to  the  cage  it 
resumes  its  interrupted  feeding. 

^'Arteries,  veins,  and  most  of  the  parts  of  the  viscera, 
are  without  the  sense  of  touch.  We  have  actual  proof  of 
this  in  what  takes  place  when  a  horse  is  bled  for  the 
purpose  of  obtaining  curative  serum.  With  a  sharp 
lance  a  cut  may  be  made  in  the  skin  so  quickly  and 
easily  that  the  animal  does  nothing  more  than  twitch  the 
skin-muscle  of  the  neck,  or  give  his  head  a  shake,  whilst 
of  the  further  proceeding  of  introducing  a  hollow  needle 
into  the  vein  the  animal  takes  not  the  slightest  notice. 
Some  horses,  indeed,  will  stand  perfectly  quiet  during 
the  whole  operation,  munching  a  carrot,  nibbling  at  a  wisp 
of  hay,  or  playing  with  a  button  on  the  vest  of  the  groom 
standing  at  its  head. 

*'  Harrowing  details  concerning  the  horrors  of  trephin- 
ing rabbits  for  Pasteur's  antirnbic  treatment  are  frequently 
supplied   for  popular   consumption,  but   how    little   real 


ACT   39    AND   40   VIC.   c.   tj  271 

existence  any  suffering  in  connection  with  the  operation 
has,  may  be  gathered  from  the  fact  that  if,  as  a  preliminary 
measure,  the  skin  be  benumbed  with  carbohc  acid,  the 
whole  operation,  from  making  the  incision  through  the 
skin  to  cutting  out  the  piece  of  bone  with  a  fine  trephine 
and  passing  a  needle  under  the  dura  mater,  may  be  done 
without  once  causing  the  animal  to  withdraw  its  atten- 
tion from  the  important  business  of  munching  a  bit  of 
cabbage-leaf  or  a  scrap  of  succulent  carrot."  (Prof. 
Woodhead,  Medical  Magazine,  June  1898.) 

It  may  be  well  to  put  here — (i)  the  full  text  of  the 
Act  ;  (2)  an  account  of  the  anaesthetics  used  for  animals  ; 
(3)  the  latest  Report  of  Government  Inspectors  ap- 
pointed under  the  Act. 

I. — An  Act  to  Amend  the   Law   relating  to 
Cruelty  to  Animals 

\^th  August   1876 

Whereas  it  is  expedient  to  amend  the  law  relating  to 
cruelty  to  animals  by  extending  it  to  the  cases  of  ani- 
mals which  for  medical,  physiological,  or  other  scientific 
purposes  are  subjected  when  alive  to  experiments  cal- 
culated to  inflict  pain : 

Be  it  enacted  by  the  Queen's  most  Excellent  Majesty, 
by  and  with  the  advice  and  consent  of  the  Lords  Spiritual 
and  Temporal,  and  Commons,  in  this  present  Parliament 
assembled,  and  by  the  authority  of  the  same,  as  follows : 

1.  This  Act  may  be  cited  for  all  purposes  as  ^'The 
Cruelty  to  Animals  Act,  1876." 

2.  A  person  shall  not  perform  on  a  living  animal  any 
experiment  calculated  to  give  pain,  except  subject  to  the 
restrictions  imposed  by  this  Act.  Any  person  perform- 
ing or  taking  part  in  performing  any  experiment  calcu- 
lated to  give  pain,  in  contravention  of  this  Act,  shall   be 


272  EXPERIMENTS   ON   ANIMALS 

guilty  of  an  offence  against  this  Act,  and  shall,  if  it  be 
the  first  offence,  be  liable  to  a  penalty  not  exceeding  fifty 
pounds,  and  if  it  be  the  second  or  any  subsequent  offence, 
be  liable,  at  the  discretion  of  the  court  by  which  he  is 
tried,  to  a  penalty  not  exceeding  one  hundred  pounds,  or 
to  imprisonment  for  a  period  not  exceeding  three  months. 

3.  The  following  restrictions  are  imposed  by  this  Act 
with  respect  to  the  performance  on  any  living  animal  of 
an  experiment  calculated  to  give  pain ;  that  is  to  say, 

(i.)  The  experiment  must  be  performed  with  a  view  to 
the  advancement  by  new  discovery  of  physio- 
logical knowledge  or  of  knowledge  which  will 
be  useful  for  saving  or  prolonging  life  or  allevi- 
ating suffering ;  and 

(2.)  The  experiment  must  be  performed  by  a  person 
holding  such  license  from  one  of  Her  Majesty's 
Principal  Secretaries  of  State,  in  this  Act 
referred  to  as  the  Secretary  of  State,  as  is  in 
this  Act  mentioned,  and  in  the  case  of  a  person 
holding  such  conditional  license  as  is  herein- 
after mentioned,  or  of  experiments  performed 
for  the  purpose  of  instruction  in  a  registered 
place ;  and 

(3.)  The  animal  must,  during  the  whole  of  the  experi- 
ment, be  under  the  influence  of  some  anaesthetic 
of  sufficient  power  to  prevent  the  animal  feeling 
pain  ;  and 

(4.)  The  animal  must,  if  the  pain  is  likely  to  continue 
after  the  effect  of  the  anaesthetic  has  ceased,  or 
if  any  serious  injury  has  been  inflicted  on  the 
animal,  be  killed  before  it  recovers  from  the 
influence  of  the  anaesthetic  which  has  been 
administered  ;  and 

(5.)  The  experiment  shall  not  be  performed  as  an  illus- 
tration of  lectures  in  medical  schools,  hospitals, 
colleges,  or  elsewhere  ;  and 

(6.)  The  experiment  shall  not  be  performed  for  the 
purpose  of  attaining  manual  skill. 


ACT   39   AND   40   VIC.    c.    77  273 

Provided  as  follows ;  that  is  to  say, 

(i.)  Experiments  may  be  performed  under  the  fore- 
going provisions  as  to  the  use  of  anaesthetics 
b}'  a  person  giving  illustrations  of  lectures  in 
medical  schools,  hospitals,  or  colleges,  or  else- 
where, on  such  certificate  being  given  as  in  this 
Act  mentioned,  that  the  proposed  experiments 
are  absolutely  necessary  for  the  due  instruction 
of  the  persons  to  whom  such  lectures  are  given 
with  a  view  to  their  acquiring  ph3'siological 
knowledge,  or  knowledge  which  will  be  useful 
to  them  for  saving  or  prolonging  life,  or  alleviat- 
ing suffering ;  and 

(2.)  Experiments  may  be  performed  without  anaesthetics 
on  such  certificate  being  given  as  in  this  Act 
mentioned,  that  insensibility  cannot  be  produced 
without  necessarily  frustrating  the  object  of  such 
experiments ;  and 

(3.)  Experiments  may  be  performed  without  the  person 
who  performed  such  experiments  being  under 
an  obligation  to  cause  the  animal,  on  which  any 
such  experiment  is  performed,  to  be  killed 
before  it  recovers  from  the  influence  of  the 
anaesthetic,  on  such  certificate  being  given  as 
in  this  Act  mentioned,  that  the  so  killing  the 
animal  would  necessarily  frustrate  the  object  of 
the  experiment,  and  provided  that  the  animal 
be  killed  as  soon  as  such  object  has  been 
attained  ;  and 

(4.)  Experiments  may  be  performed  not  directly  for 
the  advancement  by  new  discovery  of  physio- 
logical knowledge,  or  of  knowledge  which  will 
be  useful  for  saving  or  prolonging  life,  or 
alleviating  suffering,  but  for  the  purpose  of 
testing  a  particular  former  discovery  alleged  to 
have  been  made  for  the  advancement  of  such 
knowledge  as  last  aforesaid,  on  such  certificate 
being  given  as  is  in  this  Act  mentioned  that  such 

S 


274  EXPERIMENTS   ON   ANIMALS 

testing  is  absolutely  necessary  for  the  effectual 
advancement  of  such  knowledge. 

4.  The  substance  known  as  urari  or  curare  shall  not  for 
the  purposes  of  this  Act  be  deemed  to  be  an  anaesthetic. 

5.  Notwithstanding  anything  in  this  Act  contained,  an 
experiment  calculated  to  give  pain  shall  not  be  performed 
without  anaesthetics  on  a  dog  or  cat,  except  on  such  cer- 
tificate being  given  as  in  this  Act  mentioned,  stating,  in 
addition  to  the  statements  hereinbefore  required  to  be 
made  in  such  certificate,  that  for  reasons  specified  in  the 
certificate  the  object  of  the  experiment  will  be  necessarily 
frustrated  unless  it  is  performed  on  an  animal  similar  in 
constitution  and  habits  to  a  cat  or  dog,  and  no  other 
animal  is  available  for  such  experiment ;  and  an  experi- 
ment calculated  to  give  pain  shall  not  be  performed  on 
any  horse,  ass,  or  mule  except  on  such  certificate  being 
given  as  in  this  Act  mentioned  that  the  object  of  the  ex- 
periment will  be  necessarily  frustrated  unless  it  is  per- 
formed on  a  horse,  ass,  or  mule,  and  that  no  other  animal 
is  available  for  such  experiment. 

6.  Any  exhibition  to  the  general  public,  whether  ad- 
mitted on  payment  of  money  or  gratuitously,  of  experi- 
ments on  living  animals  calculated  to  give  pain  shall  be 
illegal. 

Any  person  performing  or  aiding  in  performing  such 
experiments  shall  be  deemed  to  be  guilty  of  an  offence 
against  this  Act,  and  shall,  if  it  be  the  first  offence,  be 
liable  to  a  penalty  not  exceeding  fifty  pounds,  and  if  it 
be  the  second  or  any  subsequent  offence,  be  liable,  at  the 
discretion  of  the  court  by  which  he  is  tried,  to  a  penalty 
not  exceeding  one  hundred  pounds,  or  to  imprisonment 
for  a  period  not  exceeding  three  months. 

And  any  person  publishing  any  notice  of  any  such 
intended  exhibition  by  advertisement  in  a  newspaper, 
placard,  or  otherwise  shall  be  liable  to  a  penalty  not 
exceeding  one  pound. 


ACT   39    AND   40   VIC.    c.    77  275 

A  person  punished  for  an  offence  under  this  section 
shall  not  for  the  same  offence  be  punishable  under  any 
other  section  of  this  Act. 


A dniinistration  of  Lazv 

7.  The  Secretary  of  State  may  insert,  as  a  condition  of 
granting  any  license,  a  provision  in  such  license  that  the 
place  in  which  any  experiment  is  to  be  performed  by  the 
licensee  is  to  be  registered  in  such  manner  as  the  Secre- 
tary of  State  may  frcfm  time  to  time  by  any  general  or 
special  order  direct ;  provided  that  every  place  for  the 
performance  of  experiments  for  the  purpose  of  instruc- 
tion under  this  Act  shall  be  approved  by  the  Secretary 
of  State,  and  shall  be  registered  in  such  manner  as  he 
may  from  time  to  time  by  any  general  or  special  order 
direct. 

8.  The  Secretary  of  State  may  license  any  person 
whom  he  may  think  qualified  to  hold  a  license  to  perform 
experiments  under  this  Act.  A  license  granted  by  him 
may  be  for  such  time  as  he  may  think  fit,  and  may  be 
revoked  by  him  on  his  being  satisfied  that  such  license 
ought  to  be  revoked.  There  may  be  annexed  to  such 
license  any  conditions  which  the  Secretary  of  State  may 
think  expedient  for  the  purpose  of  better  carrying  into 
effect  the  objects  of  this  Act,  but  not  inconsistent  with 
the  provisions  thereof. 

9.  The  Secretary  of  State  may  direct  any  person  per- 
forming experiments  under  this  Act  from  time  to  time  to 
make  such  reports  to  him  of  the  result  of  such  experi- 
ments, in  such  form  and  with  such  details  as  he  may 
require. 

10.  The  Secretary  of  State  shall  cause  all  registered 
places  to  be  from  time  to  time  visited  by  inspectors  for 
the  purpose  of  securing  a  compliance  with  tlie  provisions 
of  this  Act,  and  the  Secretary  of  State  may,  with  the 
assent  of  the  Treasury  as  to  number,  appoint  any  special 
inspectors,  or  may  from  time  to  time  assign  the  duties  of 


276  EXPERIMEXTS   ON   ANIMALS 

any  such  inspectors  to  such  officers  in  the  employment  of 
the  Government,  who  may  be  willing  to  accept  the  same, 
as  he  may  think  fit,  either  permanently  or  temporarily. 

II.  Any  application  for  a  license  under  this  Act  and  a 

certificate  given  as  in  this  Act  mentioned  must  be  signed 
by  one  or  more  of  the  following  persons  ;  that  is  to  say, 
The  President  of  the  Royal  Society; 
The  President  of  the  Ro3^al  Society  of  Edinburgh  ; 
The  President  of  Royal  Irish  Academy ; 
The  Presidents  of  the  Royal  Colleges  of  Surgeons  in 

London,  Edinburgh,  or  Dublin  ; 
The  Presidents  of  the  Royal  Colleges  of  Physicians  in 

London,  Edinburgh,  or  Dublin  ; 
The  President  of  the  General  Medical  Council ; 
The  President  of  the  Faculty  of  Physicians  and  Sur- 
geons of  Glasgow  ; 
The    President    of  the    Royal    College    of  Veterinary 
Surgeons,  or  the  President  of  the  Royal  Veteri- 
nary College,  London,  but  in  the  case  only  of  an 
experiment  to    be    performed    under    anaesthetics 
with  a  view  to  the  advancement  by  new  discovery 
of  veterinary  science  ; 
and  also  (unless  the  applicant  be  a  professor  of  physi- 
olog3%  medicine,  anatomy,  medical  jurisprudence,  materia 
medica,  or  surgery  in  a  university  in  Great  Britain  or 
Ireland,  or  in  University  College,  London,  or  in  a  college 
in  Great  Britain  or  Ireland,  incorporated  by  royal  charter) 
by  a  professor  of  physiology,  medicine,  anatomy,  medical 
jurisprudence,  materia  medica,  or  surgery  in  a  university 
in  Great   Britain    or   Ireland,   or  in   University  College, 
London,  or  in  a  college  in  Great  Britain  or  Ireland,  in- 
corporated by  royal  charter. 

Provided  that  where  any  person  applying  for  a  certifi- 
cate under  this  Act  is  himself  one  of  the  persons  autho- 
rised to  sign  such  certificate,  the  signature  of  some  other 
of  such  persons  shall  be  substituted  for  the  signature  of 
the  applicant. 

A  certificate  under  this  section  may  be  given  for  such 


ACT    39   AND   40   VIC.    c.    77  277 

time  or  for  such  series  of  experiments  as  the  person  or 
persons  signing  the  certificate  may  think  expedient. 

A  copy  of  any  certificate  under  this  section  shall  be 
forwarded  by  the  applicant  to  the  Secretary  of  State,  but 
shall  not  be  available  until  one  week  after  a  copy  has 
been  so  forwarded. 

The  Secretary  of  State  may  at  any  time  disallow  or 
suspend  any  certificate  given  under  this  section. 

12.  The  powers  conferred  by  this  Act  of  granting  a 
license  or  giving  a  certificate  for  the  performance  of  ex- 
periments on  living  animals  may  be  exercised  by  an  order 
in  writing  under  the  hand  of  any  judge  of  the  High  Court 
of  Justice  in  England,  of  the  High  Court  of  Session  in 
Scotland,  or  of  any  of  the  superior  courts  in  Ireland, 
including  any  court  to  which  the  jurisdiction  of  such  last- 
mentioned  courts  may  be  transferred,  in  a  case  where 
such  judge  is  satisfied  that  it  is  essential  for  the  purposes 
of  justice  in  a  criminal  case  to  make  any  such  experiment. 

Legal  Proceedings 

13.  A  justice  of  the  peace,  on  information  on  oath  that 
there  is  reasonable  ground  to  believe  that  experiments 
in  contravention  of  this  Act  are  being  performed  by  an 
unlicensed  person  in  any  place  not  registered  under  this 
Act,  may  issue  his  warrant  authorising  any  officer  or 
constable  of  police  to  enter  and  search  such  place,  and  to 
take  the  names  and  addresses  of  the  persons  found  therein. 

Any  person  who  refuses  admission  on  demand  to  a 
police  officer  or  constable  so  authorised,  or  obstructs  such 
officer  or  constable  in  the  execution  of  his  duty  under 
this  section,  or  who  refuses  on  demand  to  disclose  his 
name  or  address,  or  gives  a  false  name  or  address,  shall 
be  liable  to  a  penalty  not  exceeding  five  pounds. 

14.  In  England,  offences  against  this  Act  may  be  pro- 
secuted and  penalties  under  this  Act  recovered  before  a 
court  of  summary  jurisdiction  in  manner  directed  by  the 
Summary  Jurisdiction  Act. 


278  EXPERIMENTS   ON    ANIMALS 

In  England  "Summary  Jurisdiction  Act"  means  the 
Act  of  the  session  of  the  eleventh  and  twelfth 
years  of  the  reign  of  Her  present  Majesty,  chapter 
forty-three,  intituled  ^*  An  Act  to  facilitate  the  per- 
"formance  of  the  duties  of  justices  of  the  peace 
"out  of  sessions  within  England  and  Wales  with 
"respect  to  summary  convictions  and  orders,"  and 
any  Act  amending  the  same. 

"Court  of  summary  jurisdiction  "  means  and  includes 
any  justice  or  justices  of  the  peace,  metropolitan 
police  magistrate,  stipendiary  or  other  magistrate, 
or  officer,  by  whatever  name  called,  exercising 
jurisdiction  in  pursuance  of  the  Summary  Juris- 
diction Act:  Provided  that  the  court  when  hearing 
and  determining  an  information  under  this  Act  shall 
be  constituted  either  of  two  or  more  justices  of 
the  peace  in  petty  sessions,  sitting  at  a  place 
appointed  for  holding  petty  sessions,  or  of  some 
magistrate  or  officer  sitting  alone  or  with  others 
at  some  court  or  other  place  appointed  for  the 
administration  of  justice,  and  for  the  time  being 
empowered  by  law  to  do  alone  any  act  authorised 
to  be  done  by  more  than  one  justice  of  the  peace. 

15.  In  England,  where  a  person  is  accused  before  a 
court  of  summary  jurisdiction  of  any  offence  against  this 
Act  in  respect  of  which  a  penalty  of  more  than  five 
pounds  can  be  imposed,  the  accused  ma}^,  on  appearing 
before  the  court  of  summary  jurisdiction,  declare  that  he 
objects  to  being  tried  for  such  offence  by  a  court  of 
summary  jurisdiction,  and  thereupon  the  court  of 
summary  jurisdiction  may  deal  with  the  case  in  all  re- 
spects as  if  the  accused  were  charged  with  an  indictable 
offence  and  not  an  offence  punishable  on  summary  con- 
viction, and  the  offence  may  be  prosecuted  on  indictment 
accordingly. 

16.  In  England,  if  any  party  thinks  himself  aggrieved 
by  any  conviction  made  by  a  court  of  summary  jurisdic- 


ACT   39   AND  40   VIC.    c.   77  279 

tion  on  determining  any  information  under  this  Act,  the 
party  so  aggrieved  may  appeal  therefrom,  subject  to  the 
conditions  and  regulations  following : — 

(i.)  The  appeal  shall  be  made  to  the  next  court  of 
general  or  quarter  sessions  for  the  county  or 
place  in  which  the  cause  of  appeal  has  arisen, 
holden  not  less  than  twenty-one  days  after  the 
decision  of  the  court  from  which  the  appeal  is 
made ;  and 

(2.)  The  appellant'  shall,  within  ten  days  after  the 
cause  of  appeal  has  arisen,  give  notice  to  the 
other  party  and  to  the  court  of  summary  juris- 
diction of  his  intention  to  appeal,  and  of  the 
ground  thereof;  and 

(3.)  The  appellant  shall,  within  three  days  after  such 
notice,  enter  into  a  recognizance  before  a 
justice  of  the  peace,  with  two  sufficient  sureties, 
conditioned  personally  to  try  such  appeal,  and 
to  abide  the  judgment  of  the  court  thereon, 
and  to  pay  such  costs  as  may  be  awarded  by 
the  court,  or  give  such  other  security  by 
deposit  of  money  or  otherwise  as  the  justice 
may  allow ;  and 

(4.)  Where  the  appellant  is  in  custody  the  justice  may, 
if  he  think  fit,  on  the  appellant  entering  into 
such  recognizance  or  giving  such  other  security 
as  aforesaid,  release  him  from  custody ;  and 

(5.)  The  court  of  appeal  may  adjourn  the  appeal,  and 
upon  the  hearing  thereof  they  may  confirm, 
reverse,  or  modify  the  decision  of  the  court  of 
summary  jurisdiction,  or  remit  the  matter  to  the 
court  of  summary  jurisdiction  with  the  opinion 
of  the  court  of  appeal  thereon,  or  make  such 
other  order  in  the  matter  as  the  court  thinks 
just,  and  if  the  matter  be  remitted  to  the  court 
of  summary  jurisdiction  the  said  last-mentioned 
court  shall  thereupon  rc-hear  and  decide  the 
information  in  accordance  with  the  order  of  the 


28o  EXPERIMENTS   ON   ANIMALS 

said  court  of  appeal.  The  court  of  appeal  may 
also  make  such  order  as  to  costs  to  be  paid  by 
either  party  as  the  court  thinks  just. 

17.  In  Scotland,  offences  against  this  Act  may  be 
prosecuted  and  penalties  under  this  Act  recovered  under 
the  provisions  of  the  Summary  Procedure  Act,  1864,  or 
if  a  person  accused  of  any  offence  against  this  Act  in 
respect  of  which  a  penalty  of  more  than  five  pounds 
can  be  imposed,  on  appearing  before  a  court  of  summary 
jurisdiction,  declare  that  he  objects  to  being  tried  for 
such  offence  in  the  court  of  summary  jurisdiction,  pro- 
ceedings may  be  taken  against  him  on  indictment  in  the 
Court  of  Justiciary  in  Edinburgh  or  on  circuit. 

Every  person  found  liable  in  any  penalty  or  costs 
shall  be  liable  in  default  of  immediate  payment  to  im- 
prisonment for  a  term  not  exceeding  three  months,  or 
until  such  penalty  or  costs  are  sooner  paid. 

18.  In  Ireland,  offences  against  this  Act  may  be 
prosecuted  and  penalties  under  this  Act  recovered  in  a 
summary  manner,  subject  and  according  to  the  pro- 
visions with  respect  to  the  prosecution  of  offences,  the 
recovery  of  penalties,  and  to  appeal  of  the  Petty  Sessions 
(Ireland)  Act,  185 1,  and  any  Act  amending  the  same, 
and  in  Dublin  of  the  Acts  regulating  the  powers  of 
justices  of  the  peace  or  of  the  police  of  Dublin 
metropolis.  All  penalties  recovered  under  this  Act  shall 
be  applied  in  manner  directed  by  the  Fines  (Ireland) 
Act,  1 87 1,  and  any  Act  amending  the  same. 

19.  In  Ireland,  where  a  person  is  accused  before  a 
court  of  summary  jurisdiction  of  any  offence  against 
this  Act  in  respect  of  which  a  penalty  of  more  than  five 
pounds  can  be  imposed,  the  accused  may,  on  appearing 
before  the  court  of  summary  jurisdiction,  declare  that 
he  objects  to  being  tried  for  such  offence  by  a  court 
of  summary  jurisdiction,  and  thereupon  the  court  of 
summary  jurisdiction  may  deal  with  the  case  in  all 
respects    as   if  the   accused   were   charged  with   an   in- 


ACT   39   AND   40   VIC.    c.    77  281 

dictable  offence  and  not  an  offence  punishable  on 
summary  conviction,  and  the  offence  may  be  prosecuted 
on  indictment  accordingly. 

20.  In  the  application  of  this  Act  to  Ireland  the  term 
*'  the  Secretary  of  State  "  shall  be  construed  to  mean  the 
Chief  Secretary  to  the  Lord  Lieutenant  of  Ireland  for  the 
time  being. 

21.  A  prosecution  under  this  Act  against  a  Hcensed 
person  shall  not  be  instituted  except  with  the  assent  in 
writing  of  the  Secretary  of  State. 

22.  This  Act  shall  not  apply  to  invertebrate  animals. 

II. — Anesthetics   under  the  Act 

In  almost  every  case,  the  anaesthetic  used  is  chloro- 
form or  ether ;  sometimes  it  is  combined  with  or 
followed  by  morphia  or  chloral.  The  nature  of  the 
anaesthetic  used  in  each  case  must,  of  course,  be  stated 
in  the  returns  sent  to  the  Home  Office. 

Of  the  use  of  ether,  it  need  only  be  said  that  animals 
take  it  well,  and  that  there  is  no  difficulty  in  rendering 
them  unconscious  with  it.  With  some  animals,  chloro- 
form is  equally  good.  Professor  Hobday,  of  the  Royal 
Veterinary  College,  published  in  1898  an  account  of 
500  administrations  of  chloroform  to  dogs,  for  opera- 
tions, with  only  one  death.  Still,  for  dogs  and  cats, 
ether  is  used  in  preference  to  chloroform.  Other 
animals   take  chloroform   well. 

Morphia  is  seldom  used  alone ;  but,  in  some  cases,  it 
is  used  after  chloroform  or  ether.  That  morphia  is  a 
'^  real  anaesthetic  "  is  certain,  for  there  are  deaths  every 
year  from  an  over-dose  of  it.  Again,  it  is  certain  that 
an  animal,  so  far  under  the  influence  of  morphia  that  it 
lies   still,  cannot  be  suffering,   for  the  drug  does  not  act 


282  EXPERIMENTS   ON    ANIMALS 

directly  on  the  muscles  but  on  the  higher  nervous 
centres. 

Very  rarely  a  dog  may  fail  to  come  readily  under  the 
influence  of  morphia,  may  be  excited  by  it,  not  narco- 
tized. But  this  is  altogether  exceptional.  An  animal 
in  such  a  condition  would  not  be  suited  for  experiment, 
and  another  anaesthetic  would  be  given.  Except  in 
these  rare  cases,  animals  take  morphia  well  and  are 
profoundly  influenced  by  it. 

Curare  is  not  an  anaesthetic  under  the  Act.  It  is 
illegal  to  use  it  as  an  anaesthetic.  In  this  country  it  is 
seldom  used  at  all,  and  it  is  never  used  alone  in  any 
experiment  involving  any  sort  or  kind  of  painful  opera- 
tion. In  every  such  case  a  recognised  anaesthetic  must 
be  given,  and  is  given. -^ 

A  good  account  of  curare  was  published  in  the  Edin- 
burgh Review,  ]\i\y  1899. 

'*  The  Act  of  1876  expressly  forbids  its  use  as  an 
anaesthetic.  When  it  is  used,  it  must  be  supplemented 
with  some  other  drug  to  relieve  pain.  A  good  deal  of 
misconception  exists  as  to  the  actual  physiological  effect 
of  curare.  Claude  Bernard  believed  that  it  did  not  in 
any  way  affect  the  sensory  nerves,  and  he  described  in 
theatrical  terms  the  animal  as  being  unable  to  stir,  but 
suffering  horrible  torture.  It  is  pretty  certainly  known 
now  that  Claude  Bernard  was  wrong,  and  that,  though 
curare  acts  first  upon  the  motor  nerves,  it  also,  though 
less  rapidly,  paralyses  the  sensory  nerves.  .  .  .  Probably 
the  truth  is,  that,  like  all  other  nerve-poisons,  the  effect 
of  curare  varies  with  the  dose.  The  muscular  nerves 
are  the  first  affected,  then  the  sensory,  and  finally  the 
central  nervous  system.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  however, 
morphia  or  some  other  narcotic  is  always  given  in  addi- 
tion to  curare  when  it  is  used  in  laboratory  work  in 
England." 

1  See  Part  IV.,  "Curare." 


ACT    39   AND   40   VIC.   c.    77  283 

III. — Latest  Report  (1905)  of   Inspectors 

UNDER    THE    AcT 

(The  various  tables  of  names,  places,  &c.,  and  the 
references  to  them,  which  are  contained  in  this  Report, 
need  not  be  reprinted  here.  The  Report,  and  other 
papers  relating  to  the  Act,  may  be  bought  for  a  few 
pence  from  Wyman  &.  Sons,  Ltd.,  Fetter  Lane,  E.C.) 


ENGLAND   AND    SCOTLAND 

Aj>ri/  17///,  1906. 

Sir, —  I  have  the  honour  to  submit  the  following 
Report  on  Experiments  performed  in  England  and  Scot- 
land during  the  Year  1905,  under  the  Act  39  &  40  Vict. 
c.  yy.  .  .  .  Six  new  places  were  registered  for  the  per- 
formance of  experiments,  and  one  place  was  removed 
from  the  register  during  the  year.  All  licensees  were 
restricted  to  the  registered  place  or  places  specified  on 
their  licenses,  with  the  exception  of  those  who  were  per- 
mitted to  perform  inoculation  experiments  in  places  other 
than  a  "  registered  place,"  with  the  object  of  studying 
outbreaks  of  disease  occurring  in  remote  districts  or 
under  circumstances  which  render  it  impracticable  to 
perform  the  experiment  in  a  *'  registered  place." 

The  total  number  of  licensees  was  381.  Reports  have 
been  furnished  by  (or,  in  a  few  exceptional  cases,  on 
behalf  of)  these  licensees  in  the  form  required  by  the 
Secretary  for  State.  The  reports  show  that  122  licensees 
performed  no  experiments.  The  numbers  given  above 
include  22  licensees  whose  licences  expired  on  Feb- 
ruary 28,  1905,  and  who  returned  no  experiments  in 
1905. 

Tables  I.,  II.,  and  III.  afford  evidence, — 

I.  That  licences  and  certificates  have  been  granted 
and  allowed  only  upon  the  recommendation  of  per- 
sons of  high  scientific  standing; 


284  EXPERIMENTS   ON    ANIMALS 

2.  That  the  licensees  are  persons  who,  by  their 
training  and  education,  are  fitted  to  undertake  ex- 
perimental work  and  to  profit  by  it ; 

3.  That  all  experimental  work  has  been  conducted 
in  suitable  places. 

Table  IV.  shows  the  number  and  the  nature  of  the 
experiments  returned  by  each  licensee  mentioned  in 
Table  II.,  specifying  whether  these  experiments  were 
done  under  the  licence  alone  or  under  any  special  certifi- 
cate. 

Table  IV.  is  divided  into  two  parts,  A.  and  B.,  for  the 
purpose  of  separating  experiments  which  were  performed 
without  anaesthetics  from  experiments  in  which  anaes- 
thetics were  used. 

The  total  number  of  experiments  included  in  Table  IV. 
(A.)  is  2506. 

Of  these  there  were  performed, — 

Under  Licence  alone  ^     ....        1348 

145 
665 

346 
2 


)) 

Certificate  C. 

5) 

Certificate  B. 

5) 

Certificate  B.  +  EE 

15 

Certificate  B.-}-F. 

1  In  experiments  performed  under  licence  alone,  the  animal 
must  during  the  whole  of  the  experiment  be  under  the  influence 
of  some  anaesthetic  of  sufficient  power  to  prevent  the  animal 
feeling  pain  ;  and  the  animal  must,  if  the  pain  is  likely  to  con- 
tinue after  the  effect  of  the  anesthetic  has  ceased,  or  if  any 
serious  injury  has  been  inflicted  on  the  animal,  be  killed  before 
it  recovers  from  the  influence  of  the  anaesthetic  which  has  been 
administered. 

Certificate  C.  allows  experiments  to  be  performed,  under  the 
foregoing  provisions  as  to  the  use  of  anresthetics,  in  illustration  of 
lectures. 

Certificate  B.  exempts  the  person  performing  the  experiment 
from  the  obligation  to  cause  the  animal  on  which  the  experi- 
ment is  performed  to  be  killed  before  it  recovers  from  the  influ- 
ence of  the  anaesthetic  ;  and  when  the  animal  is  a  dog  or  a  cat, 
Certificate  EE.  is  also  necessary. 

Certificate  A.  allows  experiments  to  be  performed  without  anaes- 
thetics ;  and  when  the  animal  on  which  the  experiment  is  per- 
formed is  a  dog  or  a  cat,  Certificate  E.  is  also  necessary. 

Certificate  F.  is  required  in  all  cases  of  experiments  on  a  horse, 
ass,  or  mule. 


ACT   39   AND   40   VIC.   c.   77  285 

Table  IV.  (B.)  is  devoted  entirely  to  inoculations, 
hypodermic  injections,  and  some  few  other  proceedings, 
performed  without  anaesthetics.  It  includes  35,429  ex- 
periments, whereof  there  were  performed, — 

Under  Certificate  A 34,778 

„       Certificate  A. +  E.        .         .         .  549 

„       Certificate  A. +  F.         .         .         .  102 

The  total  number  of  experiments  is  37,935,  being  5373 
more  than  in  1904;  the  increase  in  the  number  of  experi- 
ments included  in  Table  IV.  (A.)  is  290,  and  in  Table  IV. 
(B.),  5083. 

All  experiments  involving  a  serious  operation  are 
placed  in  Table  IV.  (A.).  The  larger  part  of  the  experi- 
ments included  in  this  Table,  viz.,  all  performed  under 
licence  alone,  and  under  Certificate  C,  1493  ^"  number, 
come  under  the  provision  of  the  Act  that  the  animal  must 
be  kept  under  an  anaesthetic  during  the  whole  of  the 
experiment,  and  must,  if  the  pain  is  likely  to  continue 
after  the  effect  of  the  anaesthetic  has  ceased,  or  if  any 
serious  injury  has  been  inflicted  on  the  animal,  be  killed 
before  it  recovers  from  the  influence  of  the  anaesthetic. 

In  the  experiments  performed  under  Certificate  B.,  or 
B.  linked  with  EE.  or  with  F.,  1013  in  number,  the 
initial  operations  are  performed  under  anaesthetics,  from 
the  influence  of  which  the  animals  are  allowed  to  recover. 
The  operations  are  required  to  be  performed  antiseptic- 
ally,  so  that  the  healing  of  the  wounds  shall,  as  far  as 
possible,  take  place  without  pain.  If  the  antiseptic  pre- 
cautions fail,  and  suppuration  occurs,  the  animal  is 
required  to  be  killed.  It  is  generally  essential  for  the 
success  of  these  experiments  that  the  wounds  should 
heal  cleanly,  and  the  surrounding  parts  remain  in  a 
healthy  condition.  After  the  healing  of  the  wounds  the 
animals  are  not  necessarily,  or  even  generally,  in  pain, 
since  experiments  involving  the  removal  of  important 
organs,  including  portions  of  the  brain,  may  be  per- 
formed without  giving  rise   to  pain   after  the   recovery 


286  EXPERIMENTS   ON   ANIMALS 

from  the  operation ;  and  after  the  section  of  a  part  of  the 
nervous  system,  the  resulting  degenerative  changes  are 
painless. 

In  the  event  of  a  subsequent  operation  being  necessary 
in  an  experiment  performed  under  Certificate  B.,  or  B. 
linked  with  EE.  or  with  F.,  a  condition  is  attached  to  the 
licence  requiring  all  operative  procedures  to  be  carried 
out  under  anaesthetics  of  sufficient  power  to  prevent  the 
animal  feeling  pain  ;  and  no  observations  or  stimulations 
of  a  character  to  cause  pain  are  allowed  to  be  made  with- 
out the  animals  being  anaesthetised. 

In  no  case  has  a  cutting  operation  more  severe  than 
a  superficial  venesection  been  allowed  to  be  performed 
without  anaesthetics. 

The  experiments  included  in  Table  IV.  (B.),  35,429  in 
number,  are  all  performed  without  anaesthetics.  They 
are  mostly  inoculations,  but  a  few  are  feeding  experi- 
ments, or  the  administration  of  various  substances  by  the 
mouth,  or  the  abstraction  of  a  minute  quantity  of  blood 
for  examination.  In  no  instance  has  a  certificate  dis- 
pensing with  the  use  of  anaesthetics  been  allowed  for  an 
experiment  involving  a  serious  operation.  Inoculations 
into  deep  parts,  involving  a  preliminary  incision  in  order 
to  expose  the  part  into  which  the  inoculation  is  to  be 
made,  are  required  to  be  performed  under  anaesthetics, 
and  are  therefore  placed  in  Table  IV.  (A.). 

It  will  be  seen  that  the  operative  procedures  in  experi- 
ments performed  under  Certificate  A.,  without  anaesthetics, 
are  only  such  as  are  attended  by  no  considerable,  if 
appreciable,  pain.  The  Certificate  is,  in  fact,  not  required 
to  cover  these  proceedings,  but  to  allow  of  the  subsequent 
course  of  the  experiment.  The  experiment  lasts  during 
the  whole  period  from  the  administration  of  the  drug,  or 
injection,  until  the  animal  recovers  from  the  effects,  if 
any,  or  dies,  or  is  killed,  possibly  extending  over  several 
days,  or  even  weeks.  The  substance  administered  may 
give  rise  to  poisoning,  or  set  up  a  condition  of  disease, 
either  of  which  may  lead  to  a  fatal  termination.  To 
administer  to  an  animal  such  a  poison  as  diphtheria  toxin. 


ACT   39   AND   40   VIC.   c.    77  287 

for  example,  or  to  induce  such  a  disease  as  tuberculosis, 
although  it  may  not  be  accompanied  by  acute  suffering, 
is  held  to  be  a  proceeding  "calculated  to  give  pain,"  and 
therefore  experiments  of  the  kind  referred  to  come  within 
the  scope  of  the  Act  39  &  40  Vict.,  c.  77.  The  Act 
provides  that,  unless  a  special  certificate  be  obtained, 
the  animal  must  be  kept  under  an  anaesthetic  during  the 
whole  of  the  experiment ;  and  it  is  to  allow  the  animal  to 
be  kept  without  an  anaesthetic  during  the  time  required 
for  the  development  of  the  results  of  the  administration 
that  Certificate  A.  is  giVen  and  allowed  in  these  cases. 

It  must  not  be  assumed  that  the  animal  is  in  pain 
during  the  whole  of  this  time.  In  cases  of  prolonged 
action  of  an  injected  substance,  even  when  ending  fatally, 
the  animal  is  generally  apparently  well,  and  takes  its 
food  as  usual,  until  a  short  time  before  death.  The  state 
of  illness  may  last  only  a  very  few  hours,  and  in  some 
cases  it  is  not  observed  at  all. 

In  a  very  large  number  of  the  experiments  included  in 
Table  IV.  (B.),  the  results  are  negative,  and  the  animals 
suffer  no  inconvenience  whatever  from  the  inoculation. 
These  experiments  are  therefore  entirely  painless. 

In  the  event  of  pain  ensuing  as  the  result  of  an  inocula- 
tion, a  condition  attached  to  the  licence  requires  that  the 
animal  shall  be  killed  under  anaesthetics  as  soon  as  the 
main  result  of  the  experiment  has  been  attained. 

The  number  of  inoculations  and  similar  proceedings 
recorded  in  Table  IV.  (B.)  continues  to  increase  in  accord- 
ance with  the  progressive  importance  attached  to  bio- 
logical tests  generally  in  practical  medicine  for  the 
diagnosis,  treatment  and  prevention  of  disease,  and  to  the 
more  widely  recognised  need  for  such  experiments  on  the 
part  of  those  responsible  for  the  care  of  the  public  health. 
Several  County  Councils  and  Municipal  Corporations 
have  their  own  laboratories  in  which  bacteriological  in- 
vestigations are  carried  on,  including  the  necessary  tests 
on  living  animals  ;  and  many  others  have  arrangements 
by  which  similar  observations  are  made  on  their  behalf  in 
the  laboratories  of  Universities,  Colleges,  and  other  In- 


288  EXPERIMENTS   ON   ANIMALS 

stitutions.  A  sewage  farm  is  registered  as  a  place  in 
which  experiments  on  living  animals  may  be  performed 
in  order  that  the  character  of  the  effluent  may  be  tested  by 
its  effects  on  the  health  of  fish.  The  Board  of  Agriculture 
has  two  laboratories  which  are  registered  for  the  per- 
formance of  experiments  having  for  their  object  the 
detection  and  study  of  the  diseases  of  animals.  In  other 
places  experiments  have  been  made  on  behalf  of  the 
Home  Office,  the  War  Office,  the  India  Office,  the  Local 
Government  Board,  the  Office  of  Works,  the  Board  of 
Agriculture  and  Fisheries,  and  the  Metropolitan  Asylums 
Board.  A  very  large  proportion  of  the  experiments  in 
Table  IV.  (B.)  have  thus  been  performed  either  on 
behalf  of  Official  Bodies  with  a  view  to  the  preservation 
of  the  public  health,  or  directly  for  the  diagnosis  and 
treatment  of  disease.  Fort3'-one  licensees  return  over 
ScxXD  experiments  which  were  performed  for  Govern- 
ment Departments,  County  Councils,  or  Municipal  Cor- 
porations ;  2187  experiments  were  made  by  four  licensees 
for  the  Royal  Commission  on  Tuberculosis ;  twelve 
licensees  performed  6265  experiments,  almost  all  in- 
oculations, for  testing  antitoxic  sera  and  vaccines  and 
standardising  drugs;  and  12,187  experiments,  mostly 
inoculations  into  mice,  were  performed  on  behalf  of  the 
Imperial  Cancer  Research  Fund. 

The  number  of  injections  made  during  the  year  1905 
for  the  diagnosis  of  rabies  in  dogs  is  27 ;  these  are 
placed  in  Table  IV.  (A.). 

During  the  year  the  usual  inspections  of  registered 
places  have  been  made  by  Sir  James  Russell,  by  myself, 
and  by  Mr.  W.  B.  L.  Trotter,  who  was  appointed 
temporary  Assistant  Inspector  during  my  absence  for 
three  months.  We  have  found  the  animals  suitably 
lodged  and  well  cared  for,  and  the  licensees  attentive 
to  the  requirements  of  the  Act,  as  well  as  to  the  con- 
ditions appended  to  their  licences  by  the  Secretary  of 
State. 

The  irregularities  recorded  during  the  3'ear  have  been 
few,  and  not  of  a  serious  character. 


ACT   39   AND   40   VIC.    c.    jj  289 

Two  licensees,  holding  certificates  (A.)  entitling  them 
to  perform  inoculations  without  anaesthetics,  administered 
an  anaesthetic  during  some  of  their  experiments,  whereas 
the  Act  prescribes  another  form  of  certificate  (B.)  when 
an  animal  is  anaesthetised  during  an  experiment  and 
allowed  to  recover  from  the  anaesthetic. 

A  licensee,  through  inadvertence,  performed  54  inocula- 
tion experiments  in  excess  of  the  number  allowed  by  his 
certificate. 

Another  licensee,  not. understanding  that  joint  experi- 
ments are  reckoned  to  both  of  the  licensees,  took  part  in 
the  performance  of  eight  experiments  in  excess  of  the 
number  allowed  by  his  certificate. 

By  direction  of  the  Secretary  of  State  a  suitable 
admonition  was  addressed  to  the  licensee  in  each  of  the 
above  cases. 

In  the  month  of  April  1905  the  attention  of  the 
Secretary  of  State  was  directed  to  certain  experiments 
which  were  performed  in  1903  and  the  early  part  of 
1904  by  persons  not  holding  a  licence  under  the  Act  39 
&  40  Vict.  c.  JJ.  The  experiments  consisted  in  vaccinat- 
ing dogs  against  distemper  and  then  exposing  them  to 
infection,  the  object  being  to  test  the  efficacy  of  a  method 
of  vaccination  as  a  safeguard  against  this  disease.  The 
Secretary  of  State  thereupon  caused  inquiries  to  be 
made,  and  from  these  it  appeared  that  the  experiments, 
in  some  instances  at  least,  had  been  accompanied  by 
pain,  and  were,  therefore,  illegal.  The  persons,  who 
were  not  aware  that  their  experiments  were  of  such  a 
kind  as  to  come  within  the  provisions  of  the  Act,  were 
suitably  admonished  and  warned  against  any  similar 
illegal  action  in  the  future.  The  matter  was  not  brought 
to  the  knowledge  of  the  Secretary  of  State  until  it  was 
too  late  for  further  proceedings  to  be  taken  if  such  had 
been  considered  necessary.  It  is  as  well  to  point  out 
here  that  to  expose  an  animal  to  an  infectious  and  pain- 
ful disease  like  distemper  is  a  proceeding  calculated  to 
cause  pain  within  the  meaning  of  the  Act,  and  that  such 
experiments  can  only  be  legally  performed  by  a  person 

T 


290  EXPERIMENTS   ON    ANIMALS 

holding  a  licence   and  appropriate    certificates. — I    have 
the  honour  to  be,  Sir,  your  obedient  servant, 

G.  D.  THANE,  Inspector. 

The  Right  Hon.  Herbert  John  Gladstone, 
Secretary  of  State  for  the  Home  l)epartme7it. 


IRELAND 

8  Ely  Place,  Dublin, 
April  26th^  1906. 

Sir, — I  beg  to  submit  Tables  showing  the  experi- 
ments performed  in  Ireland  during  the  year  1905,  under 
the  Act  39  &  40  Vict.  c.  yy^  together  with  a  list  of 
the  Registered  Places  in  Ireland. 

Twelve  licences  were  in  force  during  the  year;  of 
these  four  expired,  and  two  were  renewed.  One  new 
license  was  granted. 

The  certificates  in  existence  or  allowed  were  : — 

A.     to    4  licensees. 


B. 

7 

» 

C. 

3 

» 

E. 

2 

V 

EE. 

3 

J> 

F. 

I 

licensee, 

One  expired  during  the  year,  and  six  new  ones   were 
allowed. 

The  experiments  performed  number  218;  106  being 
under  licence  alone,  and  112  under  certificates.  Ten 
licensees  performed  experiments.  Twenty  certificates 
v/ere  in  force  among  12  licensees,  of  whom  10  performed 
experiments,  viz. : — 

Under  Certificate  A 88 

jy  ,1  B 14 

ft  ff  C 8 

•>  «■  !/••  •  •  •  •  ^ 


55 
53 
48 

27 
14 
13 


ACT   39  AND   40   VIC.    c.   jj  291 

The  animals  experimented  on  were  : — 

Guinea  pigs 
Birds  . 
Rabbits 
Cattle  . 
Mice  . 
Dogs  . 
Cats  . 
Horses 
Goats  . 
Sheep 

The  experiments  were  mainly  pathological  inoculations, 
done  for  the  purposes  of  the  investigation  or  diagnosis 
of  various  diseases,  such  as  canine  rabies,  tuberculosis, 
cancer,  glanders,  and  typhoid  fever.  A  few  were 
physiological,  for  the  investigation  of  the  functions  of 
the  thymus  gland,  and  of  the  effects  of  chloroform  and 
ether  on  renal  activit}'.  All  of  these  seem  to  have  been 
of  a  reasonable  character  and  intended  to  serve  useful 
purposes  in  the  elucidation  of  the  phenomena  of  disease 
or  of  vital  functions.  They  are  reported  to  have  been 
free  from  pain. 

Experiments  numbering  eight  were  performed  in 
illustration  of  lectures,  to  demonstrate  the  phenomena 
of  circulation  and  respiration  and  of  nervous  control. 
In  these  experiments,  two  dogs,  two  cats,  and  four 
rabbits  were  emplo3'ed. 

Some  of  the  investigations  were  devoted  to  the  study 
of  diseases  in  cattle,  horses,  goats,  and  sheep,  and  seem 
to  be  useful  and  of  economic  value. 

The  registered  places  were  inspected  and  their  con- 
dition found  satisfactor3\  The  inspectors  in  Belfast  and 
Cork  report  that  in  those  places  the  provisions  of  the 
Act  have  been  satisfactorily  complied  wnth. — I  have,  &c., 

W.  THORNLEY  STOKER, 

Inspector  for  Ireland. 

To  the  Right  Honourable 

The  Chief  Secretary  to  the 

Lord  Lieutenant  of  Ireland. 


292  EXPERIMENTS   ON   ANIMALS 


This  Report  gives  a  clear  answer  to  certain  false 
statements  alleged  against  experiments  on  animals.  It 
shows  that  more  than  90  per  cent,  of  these  experiments 
are  inoculations,  with  a  few  feeding  experiments,  ad- 
ministrations of  substances  by  the  mouth,  or  abstrac- 
tions of  a  minute  quantity  of  blood  for  examination. 
In  no  instance  has  a  certificate  dispensing  with  the  use 
of  ancesthetics  been  allowed  for  an  experiment  involviyig 
a  serious  operation.  In  no  case  has  a  cutting  operation 
more  severe  than  a  superficial  venesection  been  allowed 
to  be  performed  without  ancesthetics.  It  shows,  also, 
that  the  results,  in  a  very  large  number  of  these  inocu- 
lations, are  negative,  painless,  not  even  inconvenient. 

The  Report  shows,  also,  that  the  vast  majority  of 
all  experiments  are  inoculations  made  on  the  smaller 
animals  ;  and  that  the  larger  animals  (dog,  cat,  horse, 
mule,  or  ass)  are  seldom  used  for  inoculation. 

It  shows,  also,  that  a  great  proportion  of  these  inocu- 
lations are  made  in  the  direct  practical  service  of  the 
public  health  and  the  public  purse  :  to  standardise 
drugs,  to  ensure  the  purity  of  food  and  of  rivers,  to 
protect  flocks  and  herds,  and  to  decide  quarantine. 
Government  Departments,  County  Councils,  Municipal 
Corporations,  and  a  Royal  Commission  made  more 
than  one-third  of  the  total  number  of  inoculations ; 
and  the  Imperial  Cancer  Research  Fund  made  more 
than  one-third,  mostly  on  mice ;  and  a  sixth  was 
made  over  the  testing  and  standardising  of  sera  and 
of  drugs. 

The  operations  performed  under  the  License  +  Certi- 
ficate B,  or  B  +  EE,  or  B  -|-  F,  were  3  per  cent,  of  the 
whole    number   of  experiments.       The   majority   of  the 


ACT   39   AND   40   VIC.   c.   77  293 

animals  were  neither  cats  nor  dogs.  They  can  hardly 
be  compared  to  the  same  number  of  the  larger  animals 
mutilated  by  breeders  and  farmers  :  for  these  mutila- 
tions may  be  inflicted,  and  are  inflicted,  without  an 
anaesthetic.  They  can  hardly  be  compared  to  the  same 
number  of  pheasants  or  rabbits  wounded,  but  not  killed, 
in  sport  ;  for  the  animals  wounded  in  sport  get  no  sub- 
sequent care,  and,  if  they  are  in  pain,  nobody  need  put 
them  out  of  it.  They  may  fairly  be  compared  to  the  same 
number  of  pet  animals  that  have  undergone  surgical 
operations,  under  anaesthesia,  at  the  hands  of  a  skilled 
veterinary  surgeon  ;  only  with  this  difference,  that  many 
of  them  lose  health,  or  suffer  disablement  or  disease, 
and  so  die  or  are  killed  ;  but,  if  the  wound  suppurates, 
the  animal  must  be  killed,  and,  after  the  wound  has 
healed,  the  animals  are  not  necessarily,  or  even  gene- 
rally, in  pain.  And  there  must  be  no  further  experi- 
ment without  anaesthesia.  No  observations  or  stimulations 
of  a  character  to  cause  pain  are  allowed  to  be  made  with- 
out the  animals  being  ancesthetised.  It  is  evident  that 
good  care  is  taken  to  ensure  an  irreducible  minimum 
of  pain. 


PART    IV 

THE   CASE    AGAINST    ANTI-VIVISECTION 


THE  CASE  AGAINST  ANTI-VIVISECTION 

[The  following  pages  arc  taken,  with  a  few  changes  and 
omissions,  from  a  pampWet  which  I  published  in  1904.  I  am 
glad  to  say  that  the  tone  of  the  Anti-Vivisection  Societies  is  not 
quite  so  bad  as  it  was  a  few  years  ago  ;  but  I  think  that  what  I 
wrote  in  1904  is  still  fairly  accurate.] 


I.  Anti-Vivisection   Societies 

The  early  history  of  the  anti-vivisection  movement  is 
given  in  a  pamphlet  by  Dr.  Leffingwell,  of  Brooklyn, 
entitled  **  The  Rise  of  the  Vivisection  Controversy " ; 
and  in  a  pamphlet  published  by  the  National  Anti- 
vivisection  Society,  entitled  "  Dates  of  the  Principal 
Events  connected  with  the  Anti-vivisection  Movement." 
Dr.  Leffingwell  calls  attention  to  a  fact  not  generally 
known — that  the  movement,  in  this  country,  was  begun 
by  the  medical  journals.  The  Medical  Times  and  Gazette 
in  1858,  the  Lancet  in  i860,  and  the  British  Medical 
Journal  in  1861  condemned  in  a  very  outspoken  way 
certain  experiments  made  on  the  Continent,  and  raised 
the  question  whether  these  or  any  experiments  on 
animals  could  be  justified.  Later,  in  1872,  the  Medical 
Times  and  Gazette  declared  outright  that  all  experiments, 
from  the  time  of  Magendie  onward,  had  done  nothing 
for  humanity  that  could  be  compared  to  the  discovery 
and  use  of  cod-hver  oil  and  bark.  In  1874,  the  Royal 
Society  for   the   Prevention   of  Cruelty  to  Animals   took 

proceedings  against   those  who    had   made   certain    ex- 

297 


298  EXPERIMENTS   ON    ANIMALS 

periments  at  Norwich  during  a  meeting  of  the  British 
Medical  Association.  These  experiments,  and  the 
pubHcation  of  the  Handbook  of  the  Physiological  Labora- 
tory ^  roused  pubhc  comment;  and  during  1875  ^^^ 
opposition  to  all  experiments  on  animals  took  more 
definite  form.  On  June  22nd,  1875,  the  Royal  Com- 
mission was  appointed;  on  January  8th,  1876,  its 
report  was  dated;  and  on  August  15th,  1876,  the 
present  Act  received  the  Royal  assent. 

At  the  time  when  the  Royal  Commission  was  ap- 
pointed, the  only  anti-vivisection  society  was  that  which 
Mr.  Jesse  had  just  started  ;  and  if  any  one  will  read 
Mr.  Jesse's  cross-examination,  by  Professor  Huxley, 
before  the  Royal  Commission,  he  will  not  attach  much 
importance  to  that  society.  The  National  Anti-vivi- 
section Society  was  founded  in  November  1875;  ^^^ 
Irish  Society,  the  London  Society,  and  the  International 
Association  in  1876  ;  the  Church  Anti-vivisection 
League  in  1889,  the  Humanitarian  League  and  the 
National  Canine  Defence  League^  in  1891,  and  the 
British  Union  about  1898.  These  dates  show  that  the 
oldest  of  these  societies  came  after  the  Royal  Com- 
mission, not  before  it ;  the  first  societies  and  the  Royal 
Commission  were  alike  the  expression  of  a  widespread 
opinion,  thirty  years  ago,  that  experiments  on  animals 
ousht  either  to  be  forbidden  or  to  be  restricted.  This 
same  opinion  had  been  favoured,  fifteen  years  before 
that,  by  the  representative  journals  of  the  medical  pro- 
fession. We  have  seen  something  of  the  work  of  the 
medical  profession ;  let  us  now  see  something  of  the 
work  of  the  societies. 

1  These  two  societies  have  other  purposes  beside  that  of  opposi- 
tion to  experiments  on  animals. 


THE  CASE  AGAINST  ANTI-VIVISECTION    299 

The  chief  anti-vivisection  societies  in  this  country 
are  the  National  Society,  the  London  Society,  the  British 
Union,  the  Church  League,  and  the  Canine  Defence 
League.  In  February  1898,  the  National  Society 
declared  itself  in  favour  of  restriction ;  it  set  before 
itself  abolition  as  its  ultimate  policy,  and  restriction  as 
its  immediate  practical  policy.  Thus,  at  the  present  time, 
these  societies  are  divided  into  two  parties  :  one  asks 
for  restriction,  anothef  asks  for  nothing  short  of  aboli- 
tion. This  division  between  them,  and  the  tone  of 
the  National  Society  toward  the  smaller  Societies, 
waste  their  energy  and  their  funds,  and  hinder  them 
from  working  together.  The  National  Society,  in  its 
official  journal  (January  1902),  speaks  as  follow^s  of 
this  schism,  in  a  leader  entitled  "  The  Folly  of  our 
Subdivisions  " : — 

"  Nobody  seems  to  know  how  many  Anti-vivisection 
Societies  there  are.  A  few  hundred  Anti-vivisectionists 
divide  themselves  up  into  divisions,  subdivisions,  coteries, 
and  cliques,  without  order,  without  discipline,  without 
cohesion.  The  Anti-vivisectionists  between  them  all 
contribute  but  a  few  thousands  a  year,  and  dribble  them 
around  among  multitudinous  antagonistic  associations.  .  .  . 
The  pitiful  absurdity  of  the  disunion  fostered  by  some 
Anti-vivisectionists  was  illustrated  very  forcibly  last  year 
by  the  issue  of  a  prospectus  of  a  Societ}-  with  a  world- 
embracing  title,  in  which  its  promoters  declared  that 
irreparable  injury  would  be  inflicted  upon  our  cause  if 
electoral  work  were  not  taken  up  by  thefn.  .  .  .  The 
accounts  of  this  stupendous  organisation  showed  that  its 
total  expenditure  for  the  year  was  ;{^I3,  19s.  4d.,  out  of 
which  ten  shillings  was  devoted  to  'electoral  work.'  .  .  . 
A  much  graver  injury  is  done  to  the  cause  of  mercy 
by  the  deplorable  waste  of  money  spent  in  perfectly  un- 
necessary offices  and  salaries.  We  say  that  one  office 
would  amply  suffice  for  all  the  work,  and  that  one  office 


300  EXPERIMENTS   OX    ANIMALS 

would  not  need  half-a-dozen  paid  Secretaries.  The 
existence  of  many  quite  needless  Societies  cannot  be 
justified    on    any  grounds    of  humanity   combined    with 

common  sense." 

Nothing  need  be  added  to  these  very  grave  ad- 
missions, written  by  Mr.  Coleridge  himself.  He  pro- 
poses a  very  simple  remedy  for  these  "quite  needless" 
societies  :  — 

"The  National  Societ}-,  as  the  chief  Anti-vivisection 
organisation  in  the  world,  is  alw^ays  read}'  to  put  an  end 
to  this  grievous  waste  by  receiving  into  its  corporation 
any  of  the  smaller  Societies." 

But  the  leaders  of  smaller  societies  have  two  grounds 
of  complaint  against  Mr.  Coleridge's  society  :  they  do 
not  believe  in  his  policy,  and  they  will  not  submit  to 
his  "discipline."  They  call  his  society  "the  weak- 
kneed  brethren,"  and  sa}'-  that  its  policy  is  "  miserable, 
cowardl}',  and  misleading "  ;  and  the}'  take  it  ill  that 
he  so  often  accuses  them  of  inaccurac}'.  He  refers 
again  and  again  (see  the  official  journal  of  the  National 
Societ}')  to  this  mode  of  discipline: — 

December  1901. — "I  decline  to  be  made  responsible 
for  the  'anti-vivisection  party.'  There  happen  to  be 
small  anti-vivisection  associations  whose  chief  occupation 
is  the  dissemination  of  quite  inaccurate  pamphlets.  I 
have  nothing  to  do  with  them,  and  cannot  prevent  any- 
thing they  choose  to  do." 

January  1902. — "Time  after  time  has  this  sacred 
cause  been  undermined  and  betrayed  b}'  its  professing 
friends  by  their  reckless  habit  of  making  erroneous 
statements." 

March  1902. — "I  am  quite  aware  that  with  many  of 
my  opponents  in  the  exclusive  total-abolition  coterie,  the 
motives  that  actuate  them  are  far  removed  from  the 
question  of  the  salvation  of  the   wretched  animals,  and 


THE  CASE  AGAINST  ANTI-VIVISECTION    301 

have    their   foundation    in    emotions    that    seem    to    me 
singularly  unworthy  and  petty." 

May  1902.  —  "As  representative  of  the  National 
Society,  I  have  again  and  again  written  to  the  repre- 
sentatives of  some  of  the  smaller  anti-vivisection  societies, 
protesting  in  plain  terms  against  their  publication  of 
inaccurate  statements." 

No  society  could  submit  to  be  thus  taken  to  task 
four  times  in  six  months.  The  Church  Leasfue  writes 
to  him,  "What  the  Church  League  may  or  may  not 
thinTv  fit  to  say  does  not  in  the  very  least  concern  you, 
who  are  not  a  member  of  the  League.  Interference 
in  such  a  matter  from  an  outsider  is  an  obvious  im- 
pertinence." Such  rejoinders  are  met,  in  their  turn, 
by  angry  leaders,  "A  Stab  in  the  Back,"  "Stabs  in  the 
Back,"  in  the  National  Society's  official  journal  ;  and 
the  Hon.  Secretary  of  the  London  Society,  who  is  a 
lady,  is  accused  of  want  of  chivalr}'  for  Mr.  Coleridge. 
The  leader,  "A  Stab  in  the  Back"  (April  1902),  is  a 
curious  instance  of  the  tone  of  one  anti-vivisection 
society  toward   another  : — 

"  The  time  when  a  man  is  assailed  by  a  large  section 
of  the  press,  threatened  with  violence  by  laymen,  attacked 
on  points  relevant  b}'  vivisectors  and  points  irrelevant 
by  their  supporters,  is  scarcely  the  moment  that  a  generous 
rival  would  have  chosen  for  hurling  a  dart;  and  yet, 
incredible  as  it  may  appear,  the  Honorary  Secretary  of 
another  Anti-vivisection  Society,  seizing  an  opportunit}' 
afforded  by  an  article  in  the  Globe,  enters  the  arena,  and, 
by  a  letter  repudiating  any  connection  with  Mr.  Coleridge, 
appears  to  sanction  the  unfriendly  criticisms  expressed 
in  that  paper.  It  needed  no  chivalry  to  refrain  from 
writing  such  a  letter.  A  small  amount  of  good  taste 
would  have  amply  sufficed.  .  .  .  This  letter,  which  will 
convince  the   public  of  nothing  but  the  writer's  lack   of 


302  EXPERIMENTS   ON   ANIMALS 

taste,  might  well  be  ignored  were  it  not  that  it  is  but 
one  of  the  many  attacks  made  by  members  of  other 
societies,  either  by  open  statement  or  innuendo,  against 
the  Honorary  Secretary  of  the  National  Society." 

But  we  cannot  wonder  at  these  occasional  stabs. 
For  the  National  Society  does  not  stop  at  charging 
other  societies  with  inaccuracy.  It  makes  yet  graver 
charges  against  them.  Here  are  three  made  by  Mr. 
Coleridge's  society  against  Miss  Cobbe's  and  Mr.  Trist's 
societies  : — 

March  1901. — "The  February  number  of  the  Aboli- 
tionist contains  a  leading  article  in  which  allusions  are 
made  to  subjects  that  are  never  discussed  by  decent 
people  even  in  private.  As  the  leading  organ  of  the 
Anti-vivisection  movement,  we  enter  our  solemn  protest 
against  the  publication  of  this  unspeakable  article,  which 
must  inevitably  inflict  the  gravest  injur}^  upon  our  cause." 

February  1903. — "  It  is  our  duty  to  inform  our  readers 
that  Mr.  Trist  has  published  the  correspondence,  but 
that  he  has  mutilated  it,  omitting  some  of  his  own 
letters  altogether,  and  excising  whole  paragraphs  of  Mr. 
Stewart's  letters." 

June  1903. — "Our  amiable  contemporary,  the  Aboli- 
tionist, is  good  enough,  in  a  long  article  in  its  last  issue, 
to  suggest  to  those  preparing  the  libel  action  against 
Mr.  Coleridge  what  are  the  most  vulnerable  points  in  his 
armour." 

Thus  divided  in  policy,  and  quarrelling  among  them- 
selves, these  societies  are  still  agreed  in  appealing  to 
the  public  for  approval  and  for  money.  Here  the 
London  Society's  opposition  to  the  National  Society 
comes  out  clearly.  In  its  annual  report  (1903)  the 
London  Society  says  : — 

"  Join  a  really  effective  Society  with  a  frank  and 
straightforward  polic}^ — namely,  the  London  Anti-vivi- 
section Society,   13   Regent  Street,  London,  S.W.     This 


THE  CASE  AGAINST  ANTI-VIVISECTION     303 

is  a  National  and  International  organisation.  It  has 
greater  medical  support  than  any  other.  It  is  the  most 
*  alive  '  humane  organisation  in  the  world.  .  .  .  Get  into 
touch  with  the  society.  Write  to  us.  We  shall  be  glad 
to  hear  from  you  and  answer  any  questions." 

"  If  you  can  provide  for  the  Society's  future  in  your 
Will,  may  we  beg  of  you  to  do  so  ?  If  you  agree,  pray 
do  it  now.  Thousands  of  pounds  have  been  lost  to  the 
Society  and  the  Cause  by  the  fatal  procrastination  of 
well-meaning  friends.  The  pity  of  it !  Legacies  should 
be  left  in  these  exact  Words  :  *  To  the  London  Anti-vivi- 
section Society.'  CAUTION.  It  is  of  great  importance 
to  describe  very  accurately  the  Title  of  this  Society — 
namely,  THE  LONDON  Anti-vivisection  Society 
— otherwise  the  benevolent  intentions  of  the  Donor  may 
be  frustrated.  PLEASE  NOTE. — Those  charitable  persons 
who  have  left  money  to  the  Society  would  do  well  to 
notify  the  same  to  the  Secretary." 

Contrast  the  tone  of  this  appeal  for  money  with  the 
tone  of  the  Report : — 

"  Your  Society  are  glad  to  note  that  the  Christian 
Churches  are  becoming  alarmed  at  the  pretensions  of 
scientific  authority.  .  .  .  The  Christian  laity  has  been 
largely  uninstructed  or  misinformed  on  this  grave  ques- 
tion. .  .  .  Happily,  the  signs  of  the  times  are  propitious  ; 
not  all  of  the  leaders  of  religious  thought  in  this  country 
have  succumbed  to  the  dictation  and  pretensions  of  the 
professors  of  vivisection  ...  a  base  and  blatant  mate- 
rialism, a  practice  which  owes  its  inception  to  barbarism, 
and  which  has  developed  in  materialism  of  the  lowest 
possible  order." 

Surely  such  eloquence  should  avail  to  tear  the  money 
even  out  of  the  hands  of  the  dying,  lest  the  National 
Society  should  get  it.  The  National  Society,  oddly 
enough,  also  says  :  '*  Caution. — It  is  of  great  import- 
ance to  describe  very  accurately  the   Title  of  this  Society 


304  EXPERIMENTS   ON   ANIMALS 

— namely,  The  National  Anti-vivisection  Society — 
otherwise  the  benevolent  intentions  of  the  Donor  may  be 
frustrated."  I  do  not  know  which  of  these  two  societies 
is  the  inventor  of  this  phrase.  Still,  it  is  not  improbable 
that  the  National  Society  receives  more  money  than  all 
the  smaller  societies  together.  Of  course,  we  cannot 
compare  the  working  expenses  of  an  anti-vivisection 
society  with  the  working  expenses  of  the  Society  for  the 
Prevention  of  Cruelty  to  Animals,  or  the  Society  for  the 
Prevention  of  Cruelty  to  Children.  The  former  of  these 
two  societies  in  one  year  obtained  8798  convictions; 
in  one  month  alone,  689  convictions;  and  it  paid  the 
full  costs  of  committing  34  of  the  689  to  prison.  The 
Society  for  the  Prevention  of  Cruelty  to  Children  has  an 
equally  good  record.  But  an  anti-vivisectionist  society 
cannot  show  results  of  this  kind.  Nor  can  we  compare 
its  working  expenses  to  those  of  a  missionary  society  ; 
for  the  missionaries  give  direct  personal  service  to  their 
fellow-men.  But  we  can  fairly  compare  an  anti-vivi- 
section society  to  an  anti-vaccination  society  or  a  Church 
of  Christian  Science.  That  is  to  say,  it  is  a  publishing 
body.  In  1902,  the  National  Society's  expenditure,  in 
round  numbers,  was  £<^'jo  on  printing  and  stationery  ; 
^1193  on  rent,  salaries,  and  wages;  ^^1255  <^^  books, 
newspapers,  periodicals,  &c.,  including  the  Illustrated 
Catalogue  and  the  Hospital  Guide  ;  ;^i3  8o  on  lectures, 
meetings,  organising  new  branches,  &c.  ;  and  about 
;^500  on  all  other  expenses.  Let  us  take,  to  illustrate 
these  figures,  what  the  National  Society  says  from  time 
to  time  in  its  official  journal  : — 

June  1899.  —  (From  the  Society's  Annual  Report): 
"  The  whole  controversy  has  been  collected  and  pub- 
lished in  pamphlet  form  by  your  Society,  and  more  than 
10,000  copies   have    already   been   issued   to   the  public. 


THE  CASE  AGAINST  ANTI-VIVISECTION     305 

Over  200  people  have  joined  your  ranks  and  become 
members  of  tlio  Society  in  consequence  of  it,  while  two 
cheques  of^icxx)  each  were  received  by  Mr.  Coleridge 
in  aid  of  the  cause." 

June  1899. — "We  have  received  more  money  within 
the  past  six  months  than  we  got  in  any  two  years  pre- 
viously." 

June  1899. — "We  cannot  better  employ  the  funds  at 
our  disposal  than  in  securing  the  constant  help  of  experts 
to  insure  the  accuracy  of  all  our  statements,  and  in  sending 
well-informed  lecturers  to  every  city  in  the  kingdom." 

June  1900.  —  (From  the  Society's  Annual  Report): 
"  The  receipts  of  the  society  from  subscriptions  and 
donations  show  an  increase  over  those  of  the  previous 
year.  This  increase  in  itself,  however,  would  hardly 
have  justified  the  increase  in  the  expenses  which  it  has 
been  found  necessary  to  incur  in  nlmost  ever}'  depart- 
ment, and  especially  in  the  distribution  of  pamphlets  and 
papers,  had  it  not  been  for  some  legacies  which  ioW  due, 
notabl}'  one  from  ,  of  ;^6386." 

May  1901. — "With  heartfelt  gratitude  we  have  once 
more  to  announce  that  the  National  Society  has  received 
a  gift  of  a  thousand  pounds  from  an  anonymous  donor. 
Nothing  could  be  more  opportune  for  the  Cause  than  this 
munificent  support,  coming  as  it  does  just  as  the  issue  of 
20,000  copies  of  Mr.  Stephen  Coleridge's  Hospital  Guide 
has  been  made  at  so  great  a  cost  to  the  Society." 

June  1901. — "Our  editorial  table  is  buried  deep  in 
press  cuttings  from  all  parts  of  the  kingdom." 

March  1902. — "We  employ  two  press-cutting  agencies 
to  send  us  cuttings  from  the  journals  of  the  whole  Eng- 
lish-speaking world." 

July  1903. — "We  start  branches  in  various  towns, 
and  send  lecturers  to  speak  at  working  men's  clubs  and 
debating  societies.  All  this  means  a  ver}''  large  expense. 
We  very  often  issue  a  pamphlet  likely  to  do  good  by  the 
tens  of  thousands.  Last  year  we  issued  50,000  copies  of 
the  '  Illustrated  German  Catalogue  of  Vivisectional  Instru- 
ments and  Appliances.'  " 

U 


3o6  EXPERIMENTS    ON    ANIMALS 

The  smaller  societies,  of  course,  spend  their  funds 
in  the  same  sort  of  way.  Thus  the  National  Canine 
Defence  League  says  that  its  anti-vivisection  work,  the 
most  important  of  all  its  works,  is  earnestly  carried 
forward  by  ( i )  The  Writer's  League,  in  a  ceaseless  flow 
of  letters  to  the  press  ;  (2)  The  circulation  of  lists  of 
hospitals  free  from  the  shameful  practice  ;  (3)  The  pub- 
lication of  twent3^-one  strong  leaflets  on  the  subject  ; 
(4)  The  circulation  of  300  copies  of  a  book  on  the 
subject.  This  society  in  two  years  sent  out  650,000 
leaflets  and  pamphlets  ;  but  they  were  not  all  of  them 
about  experiments  on  animals.  Another  Society,  in  a 
report  published  in  1902,  enumerates  the  methods 
which  it  employs  for  "  the  education  of  the  public  at 
large."  These  include  (a)  the  publication  of  literature  ; 
(b)  the  holding  of  public  meetings  in  all  parts  of  the 
United  Kingdom  ;  (c)  the  delivery  of  lectures  with  or 
without  limelight  illustrations ;  (d)  participation  in 
debates  even  with  high  scientific  authorities  ;  (e)  in- 
ducing the  clergy  and  ministers  of  all  Churches  to 
deliver  sermons  dealing  with  the  subject ;  (/)  organi- 
sation of  a  press  bureau,  through  which  the  newspaper 
press  of  the  country  is  watched,  and  correspondence 
and  articles  contributed.  This  Society  has  also  a  van, 
'*  the  only  one  of  its  kind  in  existence.  No  sooner  is 
our  winter  and  spring  campaign  concluded  than  the 
van  takes  up  the  thread  of  the  work  and  carries  it 
on  through  the  summer,  and  it  may  truly  be  said  that 
the  track  of  the  van  across  country  is  white  with  the 
literature  which  the  van  circulates  on  its  educational 
mission." 

It  is  evident,  from  these  and  the  like  statements, 
that  these  Societies,  during  the  last  quarter  of  a  century, 
have  published  a  vast  quantity  of  literature.      We  must 


THE  CASE  AGAINST  ANTI-VIVISECTION     307 

examine  the  style  of  that  literature  during  some  recent 
years,  and  the  arguments  which  it  puts  forward.  But, 
before  we  do  this,  let  us  consider  what  attitude  is  taken 
by  these  Societies,  or  by  well-known  members  of  this 
or  that  Socict}',  toward  certain  problems  and  interests 
that  closely  concern  them. 


They  do   not   hesitate   to  take  advantage  of  all  those 
improvements  of  medicine  and  surgery  which  have  been 
made   by  the   help  of  experiments   on    animals.      They 
denounce   the  work   of  the   present  ;   but  they  enjoy  all 
the  results  of  the  past,  and  will   enjoy  all  those  of  the 
near   future.      *'  If  anything   of  value    to   medicine   has 
been   discovered   by  vivisection,  it  would   be  as   absurd 
to  reject  it  on  that  account  as  it  would  be   to   abandon 
Ireland    because   centuries    ago    we    took    it    by    force." 
And   again  :   "We  are  no   more  morally  bound  to  reject 
benefits   acquired    by  indefensible   means    than    are    the 
descendants  of  slaveholders   bound   to  abandon   wealth 
originally   acquired    by   the    detestable    abomination    of 
slavery."      And   again,  the  Ani)jial's  Friend  (November 
1903)  takes  as    further  instances   the   benefits   derived 
from    body-snatching,    political    assassination,   and    the 
French  Revolution.      But,  in  the  matter  of  experiments 
on   animals,  it  is  the  very  same   men   and  women  who 
denounce   these   experiments   and  who  profit  by   them. 
What   should  we   say  of  an  anti-slavery  reformer  who 
was   himself  drawing  a  vast  income   out   of  the   slave 
trade  ? 

But  there  is  one  gentleman,  and,  so  far  as  I  know, 
only  one,  who  did  carry  his  opinions  into  practice.  He 
told  the  stor}^  at  a  debating  meeting — how  his  little  girl 


3o8  EXPERIMENTS   ON    ANIMALS 

had  a  sore  throat,  and  the  doctor  wanted  to  give  anti- 
toxin, and  he  forbade  it,  and  the  child  recovered.  ^*  Of 
course,"  he  says,  "  it  was  only  an  ordinary  sore  throa^." 
Truly,  a  great  victory,  and  a  brave  deed,  to  make  an 
experiment  on  your  own  sick  child. 

II 

The  attitude  of  these  Societies  toward  sport  may 
seem  at  first  sight  purely  negative  ;  but  it  is  worth 
study.  I  have  the  honour  of  knowing  a  very  eminent 
physiologist  who  will  never  shoot,  because  he  thinks  it 
cruel — a  man  much  abused  by  the  National  Society. 
And  Lord  Llangattock,  the  President  of  that  Society, 
is  well  known  as  an  ''ardent  sportsman." 

This  contrast  is  of  some  interest.  Let  us  see  what 
the  National  Society  says  about  sport.  Of  course,  it 
is  not  bound  to  attack  sport.  But  the  reasons  which  it 
gives  for  remaining  neutral  are  to  be  noted. 

1.  It  says,  very  truly,  that  it  is  in  great  part  sup- 
ported by  sportsmen. 

2.  It  says,  further,  that  the  cruelties  of  sport  lie 
outside  its  own  proper  work  : — 

"  Our  opponents  frequently  ask  us  why  we  do  not 
attack  some  form  of  cruelty  other  than  vivisection,  which 
they  consider  more  heinous.  Our  Honorary  Secretary 
recently  summarised  this  argument  in  his  own  amus- 
ing manner  thus :  We  must  not  arrest  the  man  in 
Tooting  for  kicking  his  wife  till  we  have  stopped  the 
woman  in  Balham  starving  her  children,  and  we  must 
not  arrest  the  woman  in  Balham  for  starvmg  her  children 
until  we  have  stopped  the  man  in  Tooting  kicking  his 
wife."     (190 1.) 

Later  (1903)  the  dramatis  per sonce  are  a  mcin  in  East 
Islington  jumping  on   his  wife,  and  a  woman   in  West 


THE  CASE  AGAINST  ANTI-VIVISECTION     309 

Islington  stabbing  her  husband.  But  this  argument, 
of  course,  will  not  hold.  For  it  is  the  same  men  who 
denounce  wounds  made  (under  anaesthetics)  for  physi- 
ology, and  who  make  wounds  (without  anaesthetics)  in 
sport. 

3.  It  says  that  the  "object"  of  the  sportsman  is 
to  kill ;  but  the  "  object "  of  the  experimenter  is  to 
torture  : — 

"Tiiere  is  a  vast  difference  between  the  killing  of 
animals  and  the  torturing  of  them  before  killing  them. 
The  object  of  the  sportsman  is  to  kill  his  quarry ;  the 
object  of  the  vivisector  is  to  keep  his  victim  alive  while 
he  dissects  it." — Mr.  Wood  (1903). 

''  The  object  of  the  sportsman  is  to  kill,  and  the  object 
of  the  vivisector  is  to  keep  his  victim  alive  while  he  cuts 
it  up." — Lord  Llangattock  (1901). 

''The  vivisector  is  nothing  if  not  a  tormentor;  the 
sportsman  is  not  a  true  sportsman  if  he  seeks  to  inflict 
pain  on  his  quarry.  .  .  .  One  (the  pain  of  a  horse  falling  on 
asphalt)  is  the  result  of  an  accident  to  be  deplored,  the 
other  (the  pain  from  an  experiment)  is  done  of  devilish 
malice  prepense." — Leader  in  the  Society's  official  journal, 

(1899). 

"  I  am  not  so  mentally  and  ethically  confused  as  to 
be  unable  to  distinguish  between  the  entirely  different 
moral  acts  of  killing  and  torturing." — Mr.  Coleridge 
(1901). 

Here  are  four  statements.  One  is  b}'  Mr.  Wood, 
the  Society's  lecturer ;  one  by  Lord  Llangattock,  its 
President  ;  one  is  published  in  its  official  journal  :  and 
one  is  by  Mr.  Coleridge,  its  honorary  secretary  and 
treasurer.  That  is  the  sort  of  thing  which  seems  good 
enough  to  the  National  Society  to  say  to  its  friends  in 
Parliament ;  this  childish  nonsense  about  the  true  sports- 
man and  his  quarry. 


3IO  EXPERIMENTS    ON    ANIMALS 


III 

The  attitude  of  these  Societies  toward  the  medical 
profession,  and  toward  the  Hospitals,  must  be  studied. 
Let  us  look  through  some  numbers  of  the  official 
journal  of  the  National  Society,  and  see  the  attitude 
that  it  sometimes  takes  toward  the  medical  profes- 
sion : — 

Jiine  1899. — ''  The  charm  of  this  sort  of  thing  is  that 
you  are  always  sure  of  the  post-mortem  if  of  nothing 
else." 

July  1899. — "There  is  a  disease,  well  known  to  the 
vestrymen  of  London,  called  'the  half-crown  diphtheria.' 
This  is  common  sore  throat,  notified  as  diphtheria  be- 
cause the  vestry  pays  a  fee  of  half-a-crown  to  the  medical 
notifier." 

December  1899. — *'The  patient  died,  made  miserable 
by  the  effect  of  inoculations  which  even  on  bacteriological 
grounds  gave  no  promise  of  success,  but  the  scientific 
physician,  nowadays,  must  inject  something  in  the  way  of 
a  serum." 

MarcJi  1901. — ''There  will  always  be  those  who,  un- 
able to  think  for  themselves  or  exercise  their  independence 
on  therapeutic  methods,  are  prone  to  bow  down  before 
authority  which  is  self-assertive  enough  to  compel  the 
obedience  of  weak  minds.  Such  men  would  inject  anti- 
toxin though  every  case  died.  They  administer  it  not 
knowing  why." 

April  1901. — (From  "Our  Cause  in  the  Press"): 
"  What  effort  does  the  medical  profession  make  to 
make  clear  to  its  clients  what  is  well  known  to  itself, 
that  disease  is  the  result  of  wrong  living  ?  Practically 
none  at  all.  The  medical  profession  as  a  whole  have 
winked  at  sin,  and  have  merely  sought  to  antidote  its 
results." 

September    1901.  —  "Some    day    we    shall    have    our 


THE  CASE  AGAINST  ANTI-VIVISECTION    311 

surgeons  discmbowrlliiig  us  just  to  see  what  daylight  and 
fresh  air  will  do  for  tiic  stomach-ache." 

December  1901. — **The  new  medicine  demands  a  mere 
laboratory  habit;  the  patient  is  nothing,  the  disease 
everything.  He  is  a  test-tube;  such  and  such  reagents 
are  needed  tu  produce  a  certain  result,  and  there  you  are. 
The  patient's  malady,  be  it  what  it  may,  is  due  to  a 
microbe,  a  toxin,  or  a  ptomaine;  he  must  be  inoculated 
with  the  serum  or  antitoxin  which  counteracts  his  dis- 
ease, and  this  must  iDe  done  not  secundum  arte^n  but 
secundum  scientiam^  and  the  science  means  the  inoculat- 
ing syringe  and  so  many  cubic  centimetres  of  filth  where- 
with to  poison  the  man's  blood  and  so  cure  his  disease, 
though  the  victims  die." 

December  1903. — (From  "Our  Cause  in  the  Press"): 
'*  Not  only  did  we  see  great  callousness  in  the  field 
hospitals  in  South  Africa,  but  conversation  with  the  class 
that  finds  its  way  into  our  hospitals  in  England  will  reveal 
that  a  great  deal  of  refined  cruelty  is  constantly  occurring." 

Why  does  the  official  journal  of  Mr.  Coleridge's 
society  publish  these  things  ?  For  this  reason — that 
it  must  attack  those  methods  that  were  discovered  by 
the  help  of  experiments  on  animals.  The  medical 
profession  uses  these  methods.  Therefore,  that  pro- 
fession must  be  attacked. 

The  same  reason,  of  course,  helps  to  explain  the 
National  Society's  attack  on  the  great  Hospitals  of 
London.  It  would  take  too  long  to  tell  here  the  whole 
story  of  that  attack.  Three  charges  were  made  against 
the  Hospitals  :  (l)  that  they  maltreat  patients  ;  (2)  that 
they  promote  the  torture  of  animals;  (3)  that  they 
endow  this  torture  at  the  cost  of  the  patients.  They 
were  accused,  to  put  it  plainl>',  of  treachery  and  fraud  ; 
and  of  course  the  Council  of  the  King's  Hospital  f^und 
got  its  share  of  abuse.  Mr.  Coleridge  said  on  this 
subject : — 


312  EXPERIMENTS   ON    ANIMALS 

1.  (Annual  meeting  at  St.  James's  Hall,  Ma}^  1901): 
''  How  have  Lord  Lister,  the  vivisector,  and  his  Com- 
mittee distributed  the  Prince  of  Wales's  Hospital  Fund? 
They  have  so  distributed  this  fund  as  to  make  it  clear 
to  hospital  managers  tiiat  the  more  they  connect  their 
hospitals  with  the  torture  of  animals  the  larger  will  be 
the  grant  they  may  expect  to  get  from  the  Prince  of 
Wales's  Fund.  That  fund,  therefore,  has  been  used  as 
an  insidious  but  powerful  incentive  to  vivisection." 

2.  (Annual  meeting  at  St.  James's  Hall,  1902)  : 
*^  Sheltering  itself  now  in  its  most  repulsive  form  behind 
those  ancient  and  glorious  institutions,  founded  and 
sustained  for  their  Christ-like  work  of  healing  the  sick, 
sapping  their  foundations  and  smirching  their  fair  fame, 
malignant  cruelt}'  has  taken  up  its  position  in  its  last 
ditch.  There  it  has  summoned  to  its  aid  vast  interests, 
ancient  prejudices,  enormous  endowments,  and  under 
illustrious  patronage  it  has  pilfered  the  funds  subscribed 
for  the  poor." 

With  these  statements  before  us  (and  it  would  be 
easy  to  add  to  them)  we  cannot  doubt  that  the  plan  of 
campaign  against  all  experiments  on  animals  is  also 
hostile  to  the  Hospitals,  whenever  that  hostility  seems 
likely  to  be  of  the  ver}^  least  use  to  the  cause. 


Surely  there  are  charities  more  worthy  of  subscrip- 
tions, donations,  and  legacies  than  these  Anti-vivisec- 
tion Societies.  They  quarrel  among  themselves  ;  they 
spend  vast  sums  of  mone}^  on  offices,  salaries,  press- 
cuttings,  reprints,  lectures  and  meetings,  tons  of 
pamphlets  and  leaflets.  Their  members  denounce  all 
experiments  done  now,  while  the}^  enjoy  the  profit  of 
all  experiments  done  before  now ;  they  say  that  the 
object  of  the  physiologist  is  to  torture  his  victim  out  of 


THE  CASE  AGAINST  ANTI-VIVISECTION    313 

devilish  malice  prepense  ;  they  accuse  doctors  of  fraud, 
and  lying,  and  refined  cruelty,  and  madness,  and  wink- 
ing at  sin  ;  they  blacklist  and  boycott  the  best  Hospitals. 
And  the  whole  costly  business,  these  thirty  years,  has 
done  nothing  to  stop  these  experiments ;  they  have 
increased  rapidly.  Surely,  if  a  man  wishes  to  help  and 
comfort  animals,  he  liad  better  give  his  money  to  the 
Home  for  Lost  Dogs,  or  the  Home  of  Rest  for  Horses. 


II.   Literature. 

We  have  now  to  examine  the  style  of  the  literature 
of  these  societies.  But,  out  of  sucli  a  vast  store  of 
journals,  pamphlets,  and  leaflets,  we  can  only  take  one 
here  or  there. 

From  time  to  time  a  book  or  a  pamphlet  is,  for  good 
reasons,  withdrawn.  Thus,  in  1902,  the  London 
Society  withdrew  Dark  Deeds.  {The  Shambles  of  Science , 
now  impounded,  was  published  by  a  chairman  of  com- 
mittee of  the  National  Society,  but  not  by  that  society.) 
In  1900  the  National  Society  withdrew  one  or  more 
pamphlets  involving  acceptance  of  Dr.  Bowie's  mistrans- 
lation of  Harve3^  In  1902  it  withdrew  and  destroyed 
a  whole  store  of  diverse  pamphlets,  and  appealed  to  its 
supporters  to  "  refrain  from  circulating  any  literature 
not  issued  from  our  office  by  the  present  committee  "  ; 
that  is  to  say,  it  warned  them  to  distribute  no  literature 
but  its  own,  and  not  all  even  of  that.  But  the  with- 
drawal of  a  lew  books  and  pamphlets  makes  very  little 
difference  ;  and  most  of  them  are  "  revised  "  and  brought 
out  again.  Take,  for  example,  the  A^i)ie  Cii'cles.  It 
was  planned  and  compiled  for  Miss  Cobbe ;   Mr.  Berdoe 


314  EXPERIMENTS   ON    ANIMALS 

was  *'  urgent]}^  requested  by  her  to  point  out  to  her  any 
scientific  errors  or  possible  inadvertent  misrepresenta- 
tions of  fact,  and  correct  or  expunge  them  "  ;  and  he 
"  careful!}^  read  through  the  proof-sheets."  The  book 
purported  to  be  an  exact  account,  from  original  sources, 
of  certain  experiments,  some  made  abroad,  some  in  this 
country.  It  was  attacked  by  Sir  Victor  Horsley  at  the 
Church  Congress  at  Folkestone,  October  1892,  and  was 
withdrawn,  revised,  and  brought  out  again.  Our  only 
concern  here  is  to  see  what  the  official  journal  of  the 
National  Society  said  of  the  revised  issue.  This  offi- 
cial journal,  the  Zoophilist  and  AiwiiaVs  Defender^  was 
started  in  May  1881,  under  the  shorter  title  of  the 
Zoophilist.  It  speaks  of  itself  as  a  ''  scientific  journal," 
and  as  "  the  recognised  organ  of  the  anti-vivisection 
movement  in  England."  It  is  published  monthly,  and 
maybe  obtained  through  any  bookseller.  In  1 883  it 
was  edited  by  Miss  Cobbe  ;  in  1884  by  Mr.  Benjamin 
Bryan;  in  1898  by  Mr.  Berdoe.  In  1903,  Mr.  Cole- 
ridge, apologising  for  an  error  made  in  it  in  1898,  says  : 
"  At  that  time  I  had  not  the  control  over  its  pages  that 
is  at  present  accorded  to  me."  Thus  it  is,  I  believe, 
still  edited  by  Mr.  Berdoe,  and  is,  or  was  in  1903,  con- 
trolled by  Mr.  Coleridge.  And  we  are  bound  to  note 
here  that  Mr.  Berdoe  was  in  great  part  responsible  for 
the  Nine  Circles;  and  in  1897  was  responsible  for 
certain  statements  as  to  the  use  of  curare,  which  the 
Home  Secretary,  in  the  House  of  Commons,  called 
"  absolutely  baseless." 

Let  us  now  examine  the  st3de  of  this  ''  official  jour- 
nal." And,  to  begin  with,  what  does  it  say  about  the 
Nine  Circles  ?  To  make  this  point  clear,  let  us  put  in 
parallel  columns  what  was   said   b}^  Sir  Victor   Horsley 


THE  CASE  AGAINST  ANTI-VIVISECTION    315 

of  the  original   edition   in    1892,  and  what  was  said  by 
the  Zoophilist  in  1899  of  the  revised  edition  :  — 


Sir  Victor  Horsley^  Oct.  1892. 

I  have  taken  the  trouble  to 
collect  all  the  experiments  in 
which  cutting  operations  are 
described  as  having  been  per- 
formed by  English  scientists, 
and  in  which  I  knew  anaes- 
thetics to  have  been  employed. 
These  experiments  are  26  in 
number.  In  all  of  them  chloro- 
form, ether,  or  other  anaesthetic 
agent  was  employed.  But  of 
these  26  cases,  Miss  Cobbe 
does  not  mention  this  fact  at 
all  in  20,  and  only  states  it 
without  qualification  in  two  out 
of  the  remaining  six.  When  we 
inquire  into  these  20  omissions 
in  the  26  cases,  we  find  in  the 
original  that  again  and  again 
Miss  Cobbe  has,  in  making  her 
extracts,  had  directly  under  her 
eyes  the  words  "chloroform," 
"ether,"  "etherised,"  "chloro- 
formed." "anaesthetised,"  "dur- 
ing every  experiment  the  animal 
has  been  deeply  under  the  influ- 
ence of  an  anaesthetic,"  and  so 
forth. 


The  ''  Zoophilist^'  July  1899. 

A  revised  edition  has  been 
issued,  which  is  a  stronger  in- 
dictment against  the  vivisectors 
than  the  original  work.  There 
were  some  half-dozen  omissions 
in  the  first  edition  concerning 
the  administration  of  anaes- 
thetics in  the  preliminary  ope- 
rations, but  the  cruelty  of  the 
experiments  was  in  no  case 
modified  by  the  fact  that  a 
whiff  of  chloroform  was  pos- 
sibly administered,  as  stated  in 
the  reports,  at  the  beginning  of 
the  operation.  Our  opponents 
may  boast  of  their  success  in 
detecting  the  omission  to  dot 
the  i's  and  cross  the  t's  in  the 
first  edition  of  the  Xine  Circles^ 
but  there  are  some  victories 
which  are  worse  than  a  defeat. 
We  have  replaced  the  lantern 
with  which  we  examined  the 
dark  deeds  of  the  laboratories 
by  the  electric  searchlight.  The 
"researcher  '  will  find  it  hard  to 
discover  a  retreat  where  its  rays 
will  not  follow  and  expose  him. 


For  another  instance  of  the  inaccuracy  of  the  Zoo- 
philist we  have  what  it  said  about  Professor  Sanarelli's 
experiments  in  South  America  on  five  human  beings. 
Nobody  defends  him  here.  But  the  point  is  that  the 
Zoophilist  in  1899  said  that  they  had  all  been  killed  ; 
and  in  1902  admitted  that  they  had  all  recovered.  Or, 
for  another  instance,  we  have  what  it  said  in  1902 
about  the  case  of  His  Majesty  the  King.  (For  these 
statements,  see  Zoophilist^  August  1902  and  September 


3i6  EXPERIMENTS   ON    ANIMALS 

1903  ;  also  its   report,  October    1902,   of  Mr.  Wood's 
speech  at  Exeter.) 

But  let  us  take  a  wider  view.  A  journal,  like  a 
man,  is  known  by  the  company  that  it  keeps.  Whose 
company  does  the  Zoophilist  keep  ?  Why  does  it  talk 
of  Our  excellent  cotemporary,  Humanity — Our  valiant 
cotemporaryy  Le  Medecine — Our  excellent  cotemporary ^  The 
Herald  of  the  Golden  Age?  Again,  among  the  journals 
that  it  quotes,  some  of  them  ver}^  frequently,  are  the 
Topical  Times,  Broad  Views,  Modern  Society,  Madame, 
the  Humanitarian,  the  Pioneer,  the  Vegetarian,  the  Voice 
of  India,  the  Herald  of  Health,  the  Rock,  the  New  Age, 
the  Journal  of  Zoophily,  the  Homoeopathic  World,  Medical 
Liberty,  and  the  Honolulu  Humane  Educator.  This  may 
be  very  good  company,  but  it  is  not  all  of  it  the  best 
company  for  a  '^  scientific  journal."  Still,  it  may  be 
better  company  than  the  American  Medical  Brief,  the 
Journal  de  Medecine  de  Paris,  and  the  Belgian  Le  Mede- 
cine. These  journals,  being  veritable  "  medical  jour- 
nals," are  quoted  in  the  Zoophilist  with  the  most 
amazing  frequency  and  at  great  length  ;  which  is  a 
compliment  that  they  do  not  receive  from  other  medical 
journals.  They  are,  indeed,  as  vehemently  anti-Pasteur 
and  anti-antitoxin  as  the  Zoophilist  itself.  Take  what 
the  Medical  Brief  says  : — 

"Bacteriology  originated  in  Continental  Europe,  where 
the  minds  of  a  superstitious  race  were  further  unbalanced 
by  constant  delving  in  pathology,  putrefaction,  and  mor- 
bid anatomy.  When  it  spread  to  the  new  world,  it  also 
became  blinded  with  the  revolutionary  and  fanatical  ten- 
dencies lying  near  the  surface  in  such  a  civih'sation." 

''They  say  if  you  give  a  calf  rope  enough,  he  will  hang 
himself.  Bacteriology  is  equally  clumsy  and  stupid.  .  .  . 
What  excuse  can  be  found  for  the  cowardice  and  fero- 


THE  CASE  AGAINST  ANTI-VIVISECTION    317 

cious  ignorance  which,  under  the  shadow  of  the  stars 
and  stripes,  resurrects  the  sentiment  of  the  Middle  Ages 
to  protect  the  fraud,  seeks  to  rob  the  individual  physician 
of  free  judgment,  and  denounces  him  for  failing  to  use 
the  nasty  stuff  ?  " 

"All  Continental  Europe  is  suffering  from  a  sort  of 
leprosy  of  decadence,  mental  and  moral.  The  spiritual 
darkness  of  the  people  affects  all  the  learned  professions, 
but  more  especially  medicine." 

Such  is  the  Medical  Brief,  which  the  official  journal 
of  Mr.  Coleridge's  society  quotes  incessantly,  calling  it 
"  an  American  monthly  of  great  ability  and  without  a 
trace  of  the  scientific  bigotry  and  narrow-mindedness 
which  is  so  prominent  a  feature  in  some  of  our  own 
organs  of  medical  opinion."  Next  we  come  to  the 
Journal  de  Me'decine  de  Paris.  This  is  anti-Pasteur ; 
the  editor,  Dr.  Lutaud,  came  to  London  in  1899,  and 
gave  a  lecture  on  ''  the  Pasteur  superstition "  at  St. 
Martin's  Town  Hall.  From  a  report  of  it  in  the  Star 
we  may  take  the  following  sentences  : — 

"The  result  of  the  serum  craze  had  been  that  the 
hospital  was  neglected  for  the  laboratory.  Microbes  of 
all  the  diseases  were  found  in  perfectly  healthy  subjects. 
Microbes  existed,  but  as  a  consequence,  not  a  cause. 
Toxins  which  the  seropaths  professed  to  find  were  only 
the  results  of  normal  fermentation.  The  English  public 
had  always  supported  him  in  his  fifteen  years'  struggle 
against  Pasteurism." 

Dr.  Lutaud,  says  the  National  Society,  is  "  the  great 
authority."  The  New  Englafid  Anti-vivisection  Monthly 
in  1900  calls  him  one  of  "the  brightest  scientists  of 
modern  times."  His  Journal  de  Me'decine  de  Paris 
recalls   the  Medical  Brief: — 

"To  wish  to  apply  the  same  methods  of  treatment, 
whether  preventive  or  curative,  for  two   morbid   condi- 


3i8  EXPERIMENTS    ON    ANIMALS 

tions  (a  wound  with  the  point  of  entry  abnormal  and  an 
infectious  malady)  in  essence  so  different,  is  to  commit  a 
gross  error.  .  .  .  7'he  sick  are  destroyed  by  that  which 
cures  their  wounds." 

These  two  ''  medical  journals/'  the  Medical  Brief  and 
the  Journal  de  Me'decine  dc  Paris,  are  upheld  by  the 
National  Society  as  though  they  were  expert  witnesses 
of  irresistible  authority,  and  are  quoted  with  a  sort  of 
ceaseless  worship  in  that  Society's  official  journal.  Also 
it  quotes  the  Herald  of  Health  ;  and  Medical  Liberty,  "a 
monthly  publication  issued  b}^  the  Colorado  Medical 
Liberty  League,  Denver,  Colo.,  whose  eloquent  editor 
seems  to  be  an  uncompromising  foe  to  medical  bigotry 
and  monopoly,  and  humbugs  of  every  description." 

Such  are  the  medical  journals  which  support  the 
Zoophilist  as  a  scientiHc  journal.  Now  let  us  take 
another  point  of  view.  Let  us  consider  whom  the 
Zoophilist  praises,  and  whom  it  condemns.  That,  surely, 
is  a  fair  test  of  an  official  journal.  And  we  get  a  clear 
result.  The  late  Lord  Salisbury  and  Mr.  Arthur  Balfour 
are  "  notoriously  pro-vivisectionist "  ;  Lord  Lister  has 
"  apostatised  from  the  anti-septic  faith " ;  M.  Pasteur 
is  a  "  remorseless  torturer "  ;  the  late  Mr.  Lecky  was 
"  degenerate,"  because  he  "  performed  the  volte-face  and 
went  over  to  our  opponents  "  ;  and  the  late  Professor 
Virchow  was  subjected  to  "  scathing  criticism  "  by  one 
PafFrath,  and  was  proved  to  be  absurd.  But  its  praises 
are  given  to  a  ver}'-  different  set  of  men. 

There  is  no  room  here  to  note  the  lighter  moods  of 
the  Zoophilist ;  its  jokes  about  cats  and  catacombs,  and 
two-legged  donkeys  and  four-legged  donkeys,  and  how 
to  catch  mosquitoes  by  putting  salt  on  their  tails — and 
it  will  even  break  its  jest  on  the  dead — but  it  rebukes 
another  journal   for   levity,   saying.  We  regret  to  see  our 


THE  CASE  AGAINST  ANTI-VIVISECTION    319 

paitiful  subject  treated  in  this  manner.  No  room,  either, 
for  its  description  of  anti-vivisectionist  plays,  poems, 
novels,  and  sermons.  Let  us,  to  finish  with,  take  a 
few  statements  from  its  pages,  almost  at  random  ;  some 
of  them  are  reprinted  there  from  other  sources.  The 
supply  is  endless ;  let  us  limit  ourselves  to  six  of 
them  : — 

1.  "As  other  bacteria  (beside  those  of  malaria)  were 
found  not  to  bear  sunlight  or  air,  but  to  habitats  in  loca 
scuta  situ  (?  to  inhabit  loca  se?ita  situ),  in  filth  and 
noisomeness,  their  habits  and  customs  preached  again 
the  old  doctrine,  '  Let  in  sun  and  air  and  be  clean,'  as 
earnestly  as  those  who  thought  health  was  due  to  sun 
and  air  and  water  and  fire,  the  four  old  elements,  and  act 
accordingly'-,  without  dissecting  hecatombs  of  animals  to 
prove  a  thousand  times  over  that  if  you  boiled  or  baked 
or  drowned  or  freezed  living  creatures  they  would  die,  or 
that  microscopic  parasites  did  pretty  much  what  visible 
parasites  have  been  alwa3'S  known  to  do."  (Loud  ap- 
plause)— Report  of  a  speech  by  the  Bishop  of  Southwell 
(1901). 

2.  "  It  is  just  as  well  that  you  should  have  heard  what 
the  clever  level-headed  lawyer  (Mr.  Coleridge)  thinks 
about  this  abominable  conspirac}'  of  cruelty  and  fraud 
and  impious  inquisitiveness  which  is  called  vivisection. 
(Cheers.)  .  .  .  We  are  sending  out  on  the  world  in  ever}' 
direction  multitudes  of  young  men  who  have  been  trained 
as  surgeons,  and  they  have  lived  by  cutting  (reference 
here  to  the  medical  students  in  Pickwick),  and  we  are 
sending  these  young  men  out  with  this  cacocthes  secandi, 
this  mania  for  cutting  for  the  mere  sake  of  cutting.  I 
should  not  be  surprised  if  they  tackle  our  noses  or  our 
ears,  and  set  about  mutilating  us  in  that  way." — Arch- 
deacon Wilberforce  (1901). 

3.  *^  The  task  of  the  crusader  against  vivisection  is  not 
to  reason  with  the  so-called  scientist,  not  to  truckle  to 
pedants  in  the  schools,  or  palter  with  callous  doctrinaires, 


320  EXPERIMENTS   ON    ANIMALS 

but  to  inform  and  arouse  the  people ;  and  when  John 
Bull  is  prodded  from  his  apathy,  and  startled  from  his 
stertorous  snore,  he  will  rise  and  bellow  out  a  veto  on 
the  elegant  butcheries  of  pedantic  libertines,  and  rush 
full  tilt  with  both  his  horns  against  their  abattoirs  of 
cruelty  and  passion,  pharisaically  vaunted  as  research, 
until  the  gates  of  hell  shall  not  prevail  against  him." — 
The  Rev.  Arthur  Mursell  (1901)/ 

4.  ''  It  has  been  my  experience  of  anti-vivisection 
among  Romanists,  that  nothing  suited  my  purpose  better 
than  taking  it  for  granted  that  the  worshippers  of  St. 
Francis,  St.  Bernard,  &c.,  must,  of  course^  be  on  our  side." 
—(1902.) 

5.  "  Given  mone}',  and  influential  patronage,  the  vivi- 
sector  now  expects  a  time  after  his  own  heart,  while 
professedl}'  engaged  in  investigating  the  supposed  causes 
of  cancer,  or  the  transmissibilit\^  of  tuberculosis.  He 
can  inflict  the  most  horrible  and  prolonged  tortures  on 
miserable  animals,  with  such  a  plausible  excuse  in 
reserve,  that  he  is  endeavouring  all  the  while  to  find 
cures  for  the  ailments  of  high  personages  and  million- 
aires."— (1902.) 

6.  ''The  day  of  drugging  and  scientific  butchery  is 
drawing  to  a  close.  Already  the  calm,  reassuring  voice 
of  the  new  Life  Science,  loud  and  clear  to  the  few,  is 
faintly  audible  to  the  many.  The  sharp,  crucial  knife, 
with  its  dangerous  quiver  so  dear  to  the  heart  of  the 
surgeon,  the  poisonous  drug,  will  be  things  of  the  past. 
Wisdom,  thy  paths  are  harmony  and  joy  and  peace." — 
(1902.) 


Such  is  the  frequent  level  of  the  Zoophilist,  the  official 
journal  of  the  National  Society,  edited  by  Mr.  Berdoe, 
controlled    by   Mr.    Coleridge.       Let   us   now   take    one 

^  Even  the  Zoophilist^  which  quotes  this  speech  from  the  Clap- 
havi  Obsen'er,  seems  to  feel  that  it  might  have  been  put  more 
simply. 


THE  CASE  AGAINST  ANTI-VIVISECTION    321 

more  of  that  society's  publications,  a  pamphlet  entitled 
Medical  Opinions  on  Vivisection.  Here,  if  anywhere, 
should  be  the  society's  stronghold.  If  it  could  show 
a  large  and  important  minority  of  the  medical  profes- 
sion opposed  to  all  experiments  on  animals,  its  power 
would  be  greatly  increased.  On  three  occasions, 
many  years  ago,  the  medical  profession  did  express 
its  opinion.  At  two  of  the  annual  meetings  of  the 
British  Medical  Association,  and  at  a  meeting  of  the 
London  International  Medical  Congress,  resolutions 
were  passed  affirming  the  value  and  the  necessity  of 
these  experiments.  At  one  of  these  meetings  there 
was  one  dissentient  vote  ;  at  one,  two  ;  ^  at  one,  none. 
These  three  meetings  were  truly  representative  ;  they 
were  the  great  meetings  of  the  clans  of  the  profession, 
from  all  parts  of  the  kingdom,  for  a  week  of  practical 
work  tempered  by  festivities.  What  more  could  any 
profession  do  than  to  go  out  of  its  way  three  times 
that  it  might  record,  in  fullest  assembly,  its  belief  ? 
And  most  certainly  it  would  do  the  same  thing  again, 
if  it  thought  that  any  further  declaration  were  needed. 

There  are  in  this  country  about  40,000  medical  men. 
The  National  Society's  pamphlet  quotes  39,  or  one  in 
1000.  It  could  quote  more  ;  but  we  must  take  what 
it  gives  us.  Of  these  39,  we  may  fairly  exclude  Pro- 
fessor Koch,  Sir  Frederick  Treves,  and  the  late  Sir 
Andrew  Clark,  who  would  certainly  wish  to  be  thus 
excluded.  Sir  Frederick  Treves,  who  is  quoted  with 
a  ."^ort  of  explanatory  note,  has  told  us  in  the  Times 
what  he  thinks  of  the  way  in  which  his  name  has  been 
used  ;  Sir  Andrew  Clark  is  quoted,  also  with  an  ex- 
planatory note,  for  an  obiter  dictum;  and  Professor 
Koch  for  no  discoverable  reason.      That  leaves  36.      Of 

^   I  think  it  was  two  ;  it  was  either  one  or  two. 

X 


322  EXPERIMENTS   ON    ANIMALS 

these  36,  at  least  i  i  (probably  more)  are  dead  ;  one 
died  about  183S,  another  was  born  in  the  eighteenth 
centur}',  another  died  more  than  twenty  years  ago.  Of 
the  remaining  25,  one  is  Dr.  Lutaud,  one  is  Mr.  Berdoe, 
one  an  American  doctor,  not  famous  over  here,  one  a 
veterinary  surgeon,  one  (I  think)  opposed  to  vaccina- 
tion, and  three  inclined  to  homoeopath}- ;  one  has  mis- 
translated Harvey  to  the  advantage  of  the  National 
Societ^'-'s  cause,  one  has  written  Hints  to  Mothers,  and 
one  has  written  How  to  Keep  Well.  Of  these  25 
gentlemen,  one  belongs  to  a  homoeopathic  hospital,  two 
to  provincial  hospitals,  and  one  to  a  h3'dropathic  insti- 
tute and  a  children's  sanatorium  ;  the  rest  of  them  hold 
no  hospital  or  school  appointment  of  an}-  sort  or  kind. 
I  ma}^  be  wrong  over  one  or  two  of  these  names  ;  but, 
so  far  as  I  can  see,  I  have  given  an  exact  account  of 
the  value  of  these  Medical  Opinions  o)i  Vivisection.  And, 
if  we  take  the  dates  of  these  opinions,  we  find  one  in 
1830,  one  in  1858,  and  seven  in  1 870-1 880.  An}^- 
how,  what  is  the  value  of  an  opinion  that  all  experi- 
ments on  animals  are  arrant  and  horrible  Sepoyism 
wearing  the   mask  of  Art  and  Science  ? 

Let  us  leave  the  National  Societ3^  and  turn  to  the 
Canine  Defence  League,  and  examine  that  part  of  its 
literature  which  is  concerned  with  experiments  on 
animals.  Take  the  following  sentences  from  pamphlets 
I  79  and  204  : — 

"  Among  the  general  public  the  majority  are  under  the 
impression  that  these  so-called  physiological  experiments 
are  conducted  under  the  influence  of  anaesthetics,  and 
that  the  subjects  are  rendered  insensible  to  pain  ;  this, 
however,  is  not  the  case,  and  I  am  informed  that  a  large 
proportion — considerably  more  than  half — of  the  licenses 


THE  CASE  AGAINST  ANTI-VIVISECTION     323 

dispense  with  anaesthetics  entirely.     The  phenomena  of 
pain  are  absolutely  essential  to  any  practical  issue." 

**All  diseases  have  a  mental  or  spiritual  origin.  Upon 
this  subject  a  large  treatise  might  be  written.  I  have 
carefully  thought  this  matter  over,  and  can  come  to  no 
other  conclusion.  Can  we  imagine  any  wild  bird  con- 
fined to  its  nest  with  rheumatism,  or  neuralgia,  or  con- 
sumption, or  asthma,  or  any  other  affection  whatever? 
I  believe  them  all  to  be  entirely  free  from  disease  ;  that 
is,  all  which  have  retained  their  freedom,  and  thus  have 
not  come  under  the  baneful  influence  of  man.  Take, 
again,  the  fishes,  and  ask  whether  any  fisherman  ever 
caught  a  fish  found  to  be  diseased.  This  subject  is  an 
interesting,  though  a  somewhat  melancholy  one." 


Next,  as  an  example  of  the  literature  of  the  London 
Society,  let  us  take  a  speech  made  at  St.  James's  Hall, 
May  26,  1903,  by  Dr.  Hadwen,  of  Gloucester,  who  is 
also  vehementl}'  opposed  to  vaccination.  Fie  and  Lieu- 
tenant-General  Phelps,  at  the  time  of  the  disastrous 
smallpox  epidemic  in  Gloucester  in  1896,  were  leaders 
of  the  anti-vaccinationists.  It  would  be  eas}^  to  give 
other  instances  of  the  s^^mpathy  between  anti-vivisec- 
tion and  anti-vaccination.  But  our  business  is  not 
with  Dr.  Hadwen  at  Gloucester,  but  with  him  at  St. 
James's  Hall.      He  says  to  the  London  Societ}^  : — 

"  We  are  told  we  must  pa}'  attention  to  what  the  experts 
tell  us.  My  opinion  is  this:  If  there  is  one  person  in  the 
whole  of  God's  creation  that  wants  looking  after,  it  is  the 
expert.     (Laughter.)" 

Of  the  House  of  Commons,  he  sa3's  : — 

"  If  there  is  one  thing  in  the  world  tliat  will  move  a 
member  of  Parliament,  it  is  to  know  that  any  particular 
policy  will  carry  votes  along  with  it.  (Hear,  hear.)  You 
can  bring  any  member  of  Parliament  to  your  knees  as 


324  EXPERIMENTS   ON    ANIMALS 

long  as  you  show  him  that  he  has  his  constituency  at 
his  back;  and  with  all  due  respect  to  our  noble  chairman, 
I  am  bound  to  say  that  my  experience  of  members  of 
Parliament  is  this — that  their  consciences  go  as  far  as 
votes,  and  do  not  extend  very  much  farther."  (Laughter 
and  applause.) 

He  describes  an  imaginary  experiment  under  curare, 
and  is  interrupted  by  a  cry  of  "  Demons  !  "  He  goes 
on  : — 

"  Yes,  madam,  they  are  demons.  (Applause.)  I  know 
no  other  word  to  describe  experimenters  who  can  submit 
sentient  and  sensitive  creatures,  almost  human  in  intelli- 
gence and  faith,  to  diabolical  experiments,  whilst  their 
victims  are  rendered  helpless  and  voiceless  by  a  hellish 
drug.  (Applause.)  I  cannot  understand  how  in  a  land 
like  this,  that  boasts  of  her  Christianity  and  of  her 
liberty,  men,  women,  clergy,  and  politicians  can  allow 
this  cowardly  science  to  stand  before  us,  and  this 
demoniacal  work  to  be  carried  on.     (Loud  cheers.)" 


We   have   now   seen   something  of  the   style   of  the 
literature   of  these   Societies  ;  and,  in  the  next  chapter, 
we  will   consider   its   arguments.      I   do   not  deny   that 
its   style   is   sometimes   at  a  higher  level   than   the  ex- 
amples   which    I    have   quoted.      But    I    do   say    that   I 
could    fill    a   book   of    lOO   pages    with  quotations   from 
journals   or    pamphlets    of    the    last    few    years,    all    of 
them    on    the    lower    level.       And    in    this    chapter    I 
have   practically  quoted   nobody  but   those  who   are   the 
leaders  of  the  opposition  to  all  experiments  on  animals. 
The   official  journal   of  this   Society,  the  annual  report 
of  that   Society,  the   leaflets  which   are   sent   in   answer 
to   a  formal  request  for  literature — I  have  quoted  these, 
as    they  came    to   hand,  just    going    through   them   and 
marking  those  passages  which  were  to  my  purpose. 


THE  CASE  AGAINST  ANTI-VIVISECTION    325 

ill.   Arguments 

We  have  seen  that  the  societies  arose  out  of  the  Act, 
and  not  the  Act  out  of  them  ;  that  they  are  divided  or 
hostile  ;  and  that  they  have  next  to  nothing  to  show  for 
all  the  vast  sums  which  they  have  received.  Also  we 
have  noted  the  style  of  literature  which  they  send  broad- 
cast over  the  country  ;'and  the  '' medical  journals  "  and 
'*  medical  opinions "  that  are  in  favour  of  the  cause ; 
and  the  general  tone  and  frequent  level  of  the  ofticial 
journal  of  the  National  Society.  Still,  a  good  cause 
may  be  ill  served  ;  nobody  minds,  after  all,  the  style  of 
a  thing,  so  long  as  it  is  true.  Let  us  come  to  the  heart 
of  the  matter.  What  is  the  nature  of  the  arguments 
and  evidences  of  these  societies  ?  They  desire  to  bring 
about  the  absolute  prohibition,  as  a  criminal  offence, 
of  all  experiments  on  animals.  By  what  facts,  what 
records,  what  statistics,  do  they  maintain  this  attempt 
to  mend  or  end  the  present  Act  ? 

Here,  at  the  risk  of  repetition,  let  me  make  quite  clear 
what  they  are  fighting  against.  Nine  out  often  experi- 
ments are  bacteriological.  That  is  to  say,  90  or  95 
per  cent.  Of  these  inoculations,  more  than  a  third  are 
made  in  the  direct  service  of  the  national  health,  and 
as  it  were  by  the  direct  orders  of  Government.  A  vast 
number  of  them  are  wholly  painless  ;  nothing  happens  ; 
the  result  is  negative  ;  the  thing  does  not  take.  Some 
are  followed  by  disease,  and  the  animal  is  painlessly 
killed  at  the  first  manifestation  of  the  disease,  or  recovers, 
or  dies  of  the  disease.  The  fate  of  that  animal  is  the 
fate  of  all  of  us ;  it  has  got  to  die  of  something,  and  it 
dies  of  it.  Anyhow,  the  talk  about  torture-troughs  and 
cutting-up  has  no  place  here ;  and  the  word  vivisection. 


326  EXPERIMENTS    ON    ANIMALS 

by  a  gross  and  palpable  abuse,  is  false  nine  times  out 
of  every  ten.  Of  the  remaining  lo  per  cent,  of  all 
experiments  ;  in  those  that  are  made  under  the  License 
alone,  or  under  the  License  plus  Certificate  C,  the  ques- 
tion of  pain  does  not  arise.  The  animal  is  anaesthetised, 
and  is  killed  under  that  anaesthetic.  The  remaining 
3  per  cent,  of  all  experiments  are  those  that  are 
made  under  the  License  plus  Certificate  B  (or  B  +  EE, 
or  B  +  F).  The  initial  operation  is  done  under  the 
anaesthetic  ;  the  animal  is  allowed  to  recover  ;  it  may 
be,  practically,  none  the  worse  for  it.  Or  it  may  be 
the  worse  for  it,  and  therefore  die,  or  be  killed.  But 
Certificate  B  is  not  allowed  for  any  infliction  of  pain 
on  the  animal  through  the  operation  wound,  and  never 
will  be. 

Here  are  two  sets  of  experiments  :  those  under  Cer- 
tificate A,  and  those  under  Certificate  B.  One  is  90 
per  cent,  of  all  experiments  ;  the  other  is  3  per  cent. 
Nine  out  of  ten  experiments  are  inoculations,  and  the 
operation  of  the  tenth  is  done  under  an  anaesthetic. 
That  is  the  first  fact,  which  we  must  fix  in  our  minds, 
before  we  consider  the  arguments  of  the  societies. 

Next,  the  dates  and  the  sources  of  their  evidence. 
They  wish  to  stop  the  experiments  that  are  now  made 
in  this  country.  They  are  bound,  therefore,  to  pro- 
duce *'  up-to-date "  evidence,  and  from  home  sources  ; 
not  that  which  is  thirty  years  old,  or  comes  from 
sources  far  away.  This  present  use  of  animals,  here 
and  now,  under  the  restrictions  of  the  Act,  is  what 
they  are  fighting ;  they  are  bound  to  draw  their  in- 
stances  from   here  and  now. 

But  this  would  not  suit  them  at  all :  they  could  not 
bear  to  be  thus  hmited  to  here  and  now.  Their  argu- 
ments and   their  instances  extend  over  thirty  or  more 


THE  CASE  AGAINST  ANPl-VIVISECTION    327 

years,  and  arc  drawn  from  all  parts  of  the  world,  from 
the  United  Kingdom,  the  United  States,  France,  Ger- 
many, Italy,  from  every  country.  Journals  of  Physi- 
ology, text-books,  reports,  medical  journals,  British  and 
foreign,  are  ransacked  to  fuul  evidence  for  the  cause  ; 
there  is  a  regular  system,  year  in  year  out,  a  sort  of 
secret  service  or  detective  force,  a  persistent  hunting-up 
of  all  scraps  and  shreds  of  evidence.  One  society  adver- 
tised, in  a  daily  paper,  that  it  wanted  confidential  com- 
munications, from  medical  students,  as  to  the  practices 
of  the  laboratory.  Another,  seeing  the  chance  of  a 
prosecution,  says,  "  Special  inquiries  were  made  on  the 
subject,  and  the  society's  solicitor  went  to  Belfast  to 
conduct  these  inquiries  on  the  spot."  All  this  espionage 
is  sure  now  and  again,  in  thirty  years,  to  detect  some- 
thing which  it  can  magnify  into  a  scandal.  And  when 
a  fault  is  found,  even  a  little  one,  oh  the  joy  in  the 
ranks  of  the  societies.  And,  at  once,  the  fault,  exag- 
gerated, and  highly  coloured,  is  made  a  /ocies  classicus, 
a  commonplace  of  every  drawing-room  meeting.  What 
is  the  date  of  it,  what  was  the  place  of  it  ?  Was  it 
long  ago,  was  it  far  from  here  ?  Still,  never  let  it 
drop  ;  what  one  did  then,  they  are  all  doing  now,  all 
of  them  of  malice  prepense  ;  let  us  proclaim  the  blessed 
news  from  every  platform  ;  and  please  remember  us  in 
your  Wills. 

Among  the  arguments  against  all  experiments  on 
animals,  is  this  very  common  argument,  that  the  truth 
about  them  is  too  horrible  to  be  told.  "  We  dare  not 
produce  our  brief,"  says  the  Rev.  Nevison  Loraine, 
at  the  annual  meeting  of  the  London  Society  in  1901  ; 
"  it  is  only  the  courage  of  a  lady  that  dares  to  produce 
tales  so  harrowing  as  those  that  have  been  briefly 
alluded   to   to-day ;   and  it   is  part  of  the   weakness   of 


328  EXPERIMENTS   ON    ANIMALS 

our  cause  with  the  public  that  we  cannot  tell  the  whole 
story."  But,  not  long  ago,  the  courage  of  two  ladies, 
officers  of  a  Swedish  Anti-vivisection  Society,  honorary 
members  of  Mr.  Coleridge's  society,  did  produce  a  book 
full  of  harrowing  tales  ;  they  told  the  whole  story  to 
the  Lord  Chief  Justice  and  a  jur}''.  Was  not  that 
producing  their  brief?  /  Jiave  here  in  my  pocket  some- 
tJiing  I  have  not  got  the  nerve  to  read  to  yon,  says  Arch- 
deacon Wilberforce,  at  the  annual  meeting  of  the 
National  Society  in  1901  ;  and  the  next  minute  a 
lady  in  the  audience  is  crying  out,  Do  not  go  on,  we 
cannot  bear  it ;  and  he  says,  Yoii  have  got  to  bear  it. 
Good  Gody  they  have  got  to  suffer  it.  Is  not  that  pro- 
ducing his  brief?  Mr.  Coleridge,  in  1902,  sends  out 
1 2,000  copies,  just  to  begin  with,  of  an  illustrated 
German  catalogue  of  laboratory  instruments  :  The 
question  of  thus  scattering  abroad  this  fearful  document 
has  been  the  subject  of  very  grave  consideration.  .  .  .  IVe 
have  launched  upon  the  world  this  terrible  proof  of  what 
vivisection  really  is,  with  a  full  sense  of  our  responsibility. 
Is  not  that  producing  his  brief?  These  things  in  the 
pocket,  and  fearful  documents,  and  briefs  that  Mr. 
Loraine  dares  not  produce,  are  apt  to  say  little  or 
nothing  about  anaesthetics,  and  to  be  silent  over  the 
fact  that  nine  out  of  every  ten  experiments  are 
bacteriological,  and  to  over-emphasise  experiments  made 
many  years  ago  or  a  thousand  miles  away.  You  bring 
the  speaker  down  to  now  and  here,  to  the  text  of  the 
Act,  to  the  reports  to  Government,  to  the  Home 
Secretary's  own  words  in  Parliament ;  and  you  are 
told  that  they  are  all  in  a  conspiracy,  all  liars  more 
or  less,  and  that  the  truth  is  in  the  societies,  especially 
in  one  of  them.      Or  you  bring  him  down  to  the  good 


THE  CASE  AGAINST  ANTI-VIVISECTION     329 

tliat  these   experiments   have   done,  the   Hves   that   they 
have  saved  ;  and  at  once  he  is  olT  like  the  wind  : — 

"The  society  does  not  concern  itself  with  the  results 
of  vivisection,  whether  good  or  bad,  and  thinks  it  is 
beside  the  mark  to  discuss  them."  (Report  of  the 
Canine  Defence  League,  1903.) 

"When  tlie  angel  of  pity  is  driven  from  the  heart; 
when  the  fountain  of  tears  is  dry,  the  soul  becomes  a 
serpent  crawling  in  the  dust  of  the  desert."  (Colonel 
Ingersoll.) 

**  I  make  no  pretence  to  criticise  vivisectional  experi- 
ments on  the  ground  of  their  technical  failure  or  success. 
1  dogmatically  postulate  humaneness  as  a  condition  of 
worthy  personal  character."     (Mr.  Bernard  Shaw.) 

**  The  vivisector,  when  he  stands  over  his  animal, 
whether  with  anaesthetics  or  without  anaesthetics,  is 
creating,  even  if  the  physical  health  of  the  nation  is 
enhanced  b}""  it,  a  moral  shroud  not  only  for  himself, 
but  a  moral  shroud  the  edges  of  which  are  continually 
extending  into  the  thought  atmosphere,  and  so  deaden- 
ing the  national  conscience  at  large."  (Mr.  Herbert 
Burrows.) 

"The  developed  taste  for  blood  and  cruelty  must 
in  the  end  find  its  full  satisfaction  in  the  vivisection  of 
human  beings  when  they  have  the  misfortune  to  come 
under  the  power  of  our  future  doctors."  (Bishop  Bag- 
shawe.) 

Here,  in  these  five  sentences  taken  merely  out  of 
the  heap,  is  the  ethical  argument ;  so  facile,  so  pleasant 
to  self,  so  confident  of  a  good  hearing.  No  wonder 
that  the  societies,  now  that  the  facts  of  science  are  too 
strong  for  them,  are  falling  back  on  the  facts  of  ethics. 
In  the  beginning,  thirty  years  ago,  they  were  created 
out  of  ethics  ;  they  were  born  auspiciously.  What  a 
welcome  they  had  !  Tennyson  and  Browning  and 
Ruskin,  Westcott  and  Martineau,  the  late  Lord  Shaftes- 


330  EXPERIMENTS    ON    ANIMALS 

bury,  and  her  Majesty  the  late  Queen — these  all,  and 
many  more,  among  whom  were  some  of  the  best  men 
and  womtn  of  the  Victorian  Age,  were  their  friends. 
There  never  was  a  cause  that  enjoyed  a  better  send- 
ofF.  Everything  was  in  its  favour.  Magendie  and 
Schiff  and  Mantegazza  had  made  people  sick  of  experi- 
ments on  animals.  The  advocates  of  the  method  had 
not  very  much  to  show^  on  its  behalf  ;  no  bacteriology, 
save  as  a  far-oft^  vision  ;  no  great  discoveries  lately  in 
physiology  or  pathology.  Thirty  years  ago,  good  and 
true  men  fought  a  way  for  the  Act  ;  and  there  are  few 
now  who  think  the  worse  of  them  for  it,  or  grudge 
them  that  victory.  But,  though  ethics  may  be  the 
same  always,  yet  the  arguments  from  them  are  not. 
The  ethical  argument  now — we  try  to  find  it,  and  it 
takes  all  shapes,  and  vanishes  in  a  cloud  of  foul 
language.  That  text  about  the  sparrows,  which  is 
never  quoted  in  full  ;  that  fear  about  the  vivisec- 
tion of  hospital  patients  ;  and  all  that  nonsense  about 
moral  shrouds,  and  serpents  in  the  desert,  and  deve- 
loped tastes  for  blood  ;  and  Mr.  Bernard  Shaw,  who  on 
May  2  2nd,  1 900,  suggests  to  the  National  Society  that 
"  tlie  laceration  of  living  flesh  quickens  the  blood  of  tJte 
vivisector  as  the  blood  of  the  hunter^  the  debauchee^  or  the 
beast  of  prey  is  undoubtedly  quickened  in  such  waySy^  ^  and 
a  week  later,  before  the  London  Society,  dogmatically 
postulates  humaneness  as  a  condition  of  worthy  per- 
sonal character  ;  and  the  lady  who  says,  Oh^  Pharisees 
and  hypocrites  !  Oh,  cruel  and  ruthless  egotists  !  and  the 
Falstaff  s  army  of  the  osteopath,  and  the  fruitarian,  and 
the  anti  this,  that,  and  the  other,  who  follow  the  cause  ; 

1  Mr.  R.  B.  Cunninghame-Graham's  variant  on  this  theme,  in 
the  Daily  News,  Aug.  27,  1903,  is  really  too  filthy^to  be  put  here. 
Like  Mr.  Loraine,  I  dare  not  produce  my  brief. 


THE  CASE  AGAINST  ANTI-VIVISECTION     331 

and  all  these  discordant  societies,  and  the  begging  for 
money — where,  in  all  this  confusion,  can  we  find  the 
ethical  argument  ?  Mercy  is  admirable,  but  I  will  wait 
till  mercy  and  truth  are  met  together.  Let  us  leave 
the  societies  to  their  ethics,  and  see  what  they  have 
to  say  for  themselves  in  the  lower  realms  of  science. 


First,  there  are  the  general  arguments.  That  ex- 
periments on  animals  are  useless,  or  of  very  little  use  ; 
that  they  contradict  each  other  ;  that  you  cannot  argue 
from  animals  to  men,  or  from  an  animal  under  experi- 
ment to  a  man  not  under  experiment  ;  that  the  dis- 
coveries made  by  the  help  of  experiments  on  animals 
might  have  been  made  as  well,  or  better,  without  that 
help  ;  that  the  way  to  advance  medicine  and  surgery 
has  been,  and  is,  and  always  will  be,  not  by  experiments 
on  animals,  but  by  clinical  and  post-mortem  studies. 
These  and  the  like  arguments  we  may  call  general ; 
they  are  the  complement  of  the  horrible  stories  and 
magic-lantern  slides  of  the  itinerant  lecturer. 

I.  The  vague  statement  that  these  experiments  are 
of  little  use,  may  be  answ^ered  in  several  ways.  It 
does  not  come  well  from  those  who  say  that  the 
question  is  ethical,  not  utilitarian ;  who  neither  know, 
nor  care,  nor  are  agreed,  what  is  the  real  value  of 
these  experiments.  '*  I  challenge  you,"  says  one,  "  to 
show  me  what  good  they  have  done."  Another  says, 
"  I  admit  that  they  may  perhaps  have  done  a  little 
good  ;  but  so  little ;  they  are  a  bad  investment ;  you 
would  get  a  better  return  from  other  methods  of  work." 
Another  says,  "  I  don't  care  whether  they  have  or  have 


332  EXPERIMENTS   ON    ANIMALS 

not  done  good  ;  this  is  a  matter  of  conscience ;  we  must 
not  do  evil  that  good  may  come ;  I  grant  all,  or  nearly 
all,  your  instances — malaria,  and  diphtheria,  and  cerebral 
localisation,  and  so  forth  ;  but  the  question  is  a  moral 
question,  and  we  must  not  inflict  pain  on  animals,  save 
for  their  own  good."  Probably  the  best  answer  is, 
that  good  has  indeed  come,  and  is  coming,  and  so  far 
as  we  can  see  will  come,  out  of  these  experiments ; 
that  the  instances  given  are  indeed  true :  that  these 
results  were  won  out  of  many  failures,  and  contradic- 
tions, and  fallacies,  and  harkings-back ;  and  that  they 
have  stood  the  test  of  time,  and  will  underlie  all  better 
results,  all  surer  methods,  that  shall  take  their  place. 

2.  The  statement  that  ''  3'ou  cannot  argue  from 
animals  to  man "  is  not  true.  Why  should  it  be  ? 
Take  tubercle,  tetanus,  or  rabies.  The  tubercle- 
bacillus  is  the  same  thing  in  a  man,  a  test-tube,  or  a 
guinea-pig  ;  the  virus  of  rabies  is  transmitted  from 
dogs  to  men  ;  oysters  harbour  typhoid,  fleas  carry  the 
plague,  diverse  mosquitoes  carry  malaria,  yellow  fever, 
filariasis,  and  dengue.  Take  the  circulation  of  the 
blood,  the  nature  and  action  of  the  motor  centres  of 
the  brain,  the  vaso-motor  nerves,  the  excretory  organs, 
the  contractility  of  muscle,  the  blood-changes  in  respira- 
tion— where  are  the  differences  to  support  this  state- 
ment that  you  cannot  argue  from  animals  to  men  ? 

3.  The  twin  statements,  that  all  the  results  got  by 
the  help  of  experiments  might  have  been  got  some 
other  way,  and  that  clinical  study  and  post-mortem 
study  are  infinitely  more  fruitful  than  experimiCntal 
study,  may  be  taken  together.  We  are  told  that  any- 
body could  have  discovered  the  circulation  by  injecting 
the  vessels  of  a  dead  body.  Well,  Malpighi  tried  to 
discover  the  capillaries  by  this  method,  and  failed.     We 


THE  CASE  AGAINST  ANTI-VIVISECTION    333 

are  asked  to  admit  that  phrenology,  long  before  physi- 
ology, discovered  the  truth  about  the  surface  of  the 
brain  ;  /  have  been  told^  says  Mr.  Coleridge  at  an 
annual  meeting  of  his  society,  that  the  physiologists  can 
noiv  trixi)npha)itly  map  out  the  human  brain.  I  think  the 
phrenologists  have  always  been  able  to  do  that,  and  zvhether 
they  or  the  vivisectors  do  it  best  does  not  much  matter.  We 
are  told  that  the  use  of  thyroid  extract  could  have  been 
discovered  right  awayby  mere  chemistry  and  thinking. 
We  hear  of  a  proposal  for  a  bacteriological  laboratory 
on  anti-vivisectionist  principles,  where  no  inoculations 
shall  be  made.  This  argument,  that  the  whole  thing 
might  have  been  done  some  other  way,  must  repair  its 
wit,  and  find  better  instances.  Then  comes  the  inces- 
sant appeal :  "  Stick  to  clinical  work  ;  study  diseases  at 
the  bedside,  in  the  post-mortem  room,  in  the  museum, 
anywhere  but  in  the  laboratory.  The  Hospital  taught 
you  to  neglect  these  methods  ;  it  made  experiments  on 
its  patients,  it  cheated  the  pubhc,  it  sheltered  malignant 
cruelty  in  its  most  repulsive  form  under  illustrious 
patronage.  Set  aside  pathology ;  just  sit  by  your 
patients  long  enough  ;  that  is  the  way  of  discovery." 
Or  the  appeal  takes  another  tone  :  ''  Stick  to  sani- 
tation. If  only  everybody  were  healthy,  everybody 
would  be  well.  Diseases  are  due  to  dirt,  to  vice,  to 
overcrowding,  to  want  of  common-sense.  Abolish  all 
slums,  disinfect  all  mankind,  body  and  soul,  make  every 
house  clean  and  wholesome,  no  bad  drainage,  or  venti- 
lation, or  water,  or  food.  Leave  your  torture-chambers, 
and  open  your  eyes  to  the  blessed  truth  that,  if  every- 
body were  healthy,  and  everybody  were  good,  everybody 
would  be  well."  What  is  the  use  of  talking  in  this 
way  ?  Suppose  that  all  the  physiologists  suddenly 
rushed   into   practice,   and   all    the    bacteriologists  were 


334  EXPERIMENTS   ON   ANIMALS 

turned  into  medical  officers  of  health.  What  would  be 
gained  ?  What  difference  would  it  make  ?  The  physi- 
ologists, of  course,  would  merely  vivisect  their  hospital 
patients  ;  and  the  bacteriologists  would  hardly  feel  the 
change,  for  many  of  them  are  medical  officers  of  health 
already,  public  servants,  appointed  by  the  State. 

This  argument,  that  practice  is  fruitful  of  discoveries, 
and  science  is  barren  of  them,  reaches  its  highest  ab- 
surdity in  the  National  Society's  official  journal  ;  which 
praises  extravagantly  those  methods  of  practice  which 
were  not  discovered  by  the  help  of  experiments  on 
animals  ;  praises  them  without  experience,  criticism,  or 
understanding.  It  finds  a  statement,  in  the  Medical 
Annua/,  that  a  3^ear  has  passed  without  any  great  im- 
provement in  practice  ;  and  at  once  it  lays  the  blame 
not  on  practice  but  on  science.  It  fights  hard  against 
a  fact  which  began  in  scier:e,  though  it  has  been 
proved  a  thousand  times  over  in  practice.  It  accuses 
the  bacteriologists  now  of  caring  nothing  for  human 
suffering,  now  of  rushing  after  every  new  method  of 
treatment  and  floodnig  the  market  with  drugs.  There 
ts  money  in  the  business — that  is  the  phrase  of  the 
Zoophilist.  But  there  is  money,  also,  in  the  anti- 
vivisection  business.  If  you  can  provide  for  the  society's 
future  in  your  will,  may  we  beg  of  you  to  do  so  ?  If  you 
agree,  pray  do  it  noiv,  says  the  London  Society  :  this  is 
the  most  alive  humane  organisation  in  the  world.  But  the 
National  Society  says,  A  grave  injury  is  done  to  the 
cause  of  mercy  by  the  deplorable  waste  of  money  spent  in 
perfectly  tmnecessary  offices  and  salaries.  IVe  say  that 
one  office  would  amply  suffice  for  all  the  work,  and  that  one 
office  would  not  need  half-a-dozen  paid  secretaries. 


THE  CASE  AGAINST  ANTI-VIVISECTION    335 

II 

Let  us  leave  the  general  arguments  and  come  to  the 
special  arguments.  Some  of  them  are  concerned  with 
the  experiments  themselves,  some  with  the  men  who 
made  them,  some  with  the  administration  of  the  Act. 
These  special  arguments  must  be  arranged  in  some  sort 
of  order  ;  but  they  cross  and  recross,  and  are  of  diverse 
natures,  and  any  attempt  at  strict  arrangement  would 
fail.  That  the  arrangement  may  be  useful  for  immediate 
reference,  and  may  help  anybody  to  answer  statements 
made  at  debates  and  lectures,  a  separate  heading  has 
been  given  to  each  argument.  Those  arguments  are  put 
first  which  are  concerned  with  the  experiments  them- 
selves, or  with  the  men  who  made  them  ;  afterward 
come  those  which  are  concerned  with  the  administra- 
tion of  the  Act. 

Harvey 

"  It  is  perfectly  true,"  says  Mr.  Berdoe,  "  that 
Harvey  again  and  again,  in  the  plainest  terms,  declares 
that  his  experiments  on  living  animals  aided  him  in  his 
discoveries."  I  agree  here  with  Mr.  Berdoe.  Then 
comes  this  sentence  :  But  that  is  not  so  important  as  it 
appears  to  be.  Why  not  ?  What  is  gained  by  this 
attempt  to  explain  Harvey  away  ?  Dr.  Bowie  mis- 
translates him  ;  Dr.  Abiathar  Wall  half-quotes  him  ; 
Mr.  Adams  says  that  Harvey  did  not  ascribe  his  dis- 
coveries to  expeiiments  on  animals  ;  Mr.  Berdoe  says 
that  he  did  ;  and  Mr.  Berdoe's  society  withdraws  every 
pamphlet  that  involves  acceptance  of  Dr.  Bowie's  mis- 
translation. Why  should  we  take,  on  Harvey's  work, 
any  opinion  but  that  of  Harvey  ? 


336  EXPERIMENTS   ON   ANIMALS 

Sir   Charles   Bell 

For  the  argument  from  Sir  Charles  Bell's  words,  and 
for  the  truth  about  his  work,  see  Part  I.,  Chap.  VII. 

Cerebral   Localisation 

Mr.  Berdoe  says  that  it  is  ''  pure  nonsense  "  to  argue 
from  the  motor  areas  of  a  monkey's  brain  to  those  of 
a  man's  brain.  Why  is  it  nonsense  ?  What  is  the 
difference  between  the  movement  of  a  group  of  muscles 
in  a  monkey's  arm  and  the  same  movement  of  the  same 
group  of  muscles  in  a  man's  arm  ?  With  a  very  weak 
current,  so  weak  that  it  is  not  diffused  beyond  the  area 
where  it  is  applied,  the  surface  of  a  monkey's  brain  is 
stimulated  at  one  spot :  and  forthwith  its  opposite  arm 
is  flexed,  or  its  opposite  leg  is  drawn  up,  or  whatever 
the  movement  ma}^  be,  according  to  the  spot.  A  man 
has  some  disease,  acute  or  chronic,  of  his  brain  ;  and, 
as  the  disease  advances,  twitchings  occur  in  one  arm  or 
one  leg,  little  irrational  useless  movements,  or  rigidity, 
or  loss  of  power,  according  to  the  case.  Is  it  pure 
nonsense  to  believe  that  the  disease  has  reached  a 
certain  spot  on  the  surface  of  his  brain  ?  There  is  no 
question  here  of  the  mental  differences  between  men 
and  monkeys  ;  no  question  of  consciousness  or  of  will. 
But  Dr.  Hollander,  who  thinks  very  highly  of  Gall's 
system  of  phrenology,  says,  Is  fJie  laboratory-man,  the 
experitnental  physiologist^  to  teach  us  the  mental  functions 
of  the  brain  from  his  experiments  on  frogs,  pigeons,  rabbits, 
dogs,  cats,  and  monkeys  ?  That  is  the  argument ;  that 
we  must  not  compare  the  monkey's  motor  areas  with 
the  man's  motor  areas,  for  we  cannot  find  the  mind  of 
a  man  in  the  brain  of  a  frog. 


THE  CASE  AGAINST  ANTI-VIVISECTION    337 

But,  putting  aside  phrenology,  which  is  a  broken 
reed  for  anti-vivisection  to  lean  on,  what  other  argu- 
ments are  urged  against  the  facts  of  cerebral  localisa- 
tion ?  First,  that  the  speech-centres  were  discovered 
without  the  help  of  experiments  on  animals.  That  is 
true ;  and  there,  practically,  the  work  of  discovery 
stopped,  till  experiments  on  animals  were  made.  Next, 
that  the  physiologists  have  not  always  been  agreed  as 
to  the  facts  of  cerebral  localisation  ;  that  Charcot 
doubted  them,  that  Goltz  criticised  Munk,  and  so  on. 
What  is  the  date  of  these  doubts  and  criticisms  ? 
They  are  twenty  years  old.  Next,  that  the  surgery  of 
the  brain  often  fails  to  save  life.  That  is  true  ;  and  the 
anti-vivisection  societies  make  frequent  use  of  this  fact. 
But  they  are  unable  to  suggest  any  better  method. 
Mr.  Berdoe  tells  us  that  he  cannot  remember  hearing, 
in  his  student  days,  anything  about  brain-experiments 
on  animals  : — 

"  Our  work  was  to  observe  as  closely  as  possible  the 
symptoms  and  physical  signs  exhibited  by  patients  in  the 
hospital  wards  who  suffered  from  any  form  of  nerve  or 
brain  disease,  and  having  carefully  noted  them  in  our 
case-books,  to  avail  ourselves,  when  the  patient  died,  of 
any  opportunit}''  that  was  offered  us  in  the  post-vwrte7n 
of  correcting  our  diagnosis." 

That  is  an  exact  picture  of  the  state  of  things  thirty 
years  ago  ;  the  student  taking  notes,  waiting  for  the 
post-mortem  examination,  then  correcting  his  notes  there, 
etc.  Every  case  of  brain-tumour  in  those  days  died, 
but  many  are  saved  now  ;  and  every  case  of  brain- 
abscess  in  those  days  died  (one  or  two  were  saved  by  a 
sort  of  miracle  of  surgical  audacity) ;  but  many  are 
saved  now. 

Y 


338  EXPERIMENTS   ON    ANIMALS 


Antitoxins  and   Carbolic  Acid 

It  is  said  by  opponents  of  experiments  on  animals, 
that  the  active  principle,  in  antitoxin,  is  not  the  anti- 
toxin, but  the  carbolic  acid  which  is  added  to  it.  They 
take  this  statement  from  the  Medical  Brief;  and  we 
have  learned  something  of  the  style  of  that  journal. 
Here  is  a  sentence  from  the  official  journal  of  the 
National  Society : — 

''  The  Medical  Brief  calls  antitoxin  '  the  fraud  of  the 
age,'  and  says :  Would  that  physicians  could  all  realise 
the  hideous  horror  of  using  this  nasty  stuff  as  a  remedial 
agent.  It  would  be  nothing  less  than  ghoulishness  to 
inject  the  matter  from  an  abscess  into  a  child's  arm,  yet 
antitoxin  is  not  much  better;  it  is  the  decomposing  fluid 
from  a  diseased  horse,  partially  neutralised  by  carbolic 
acid." 

For  a  commentary  on  this  sentence,  take  the  follow- 
ing letter  from  an  eminent  bacteriologist  : — 

"As  regards  diphtheria  antitoxin,  the  addition  of  an 
antiseptic  is  by  no  means  necessary  or  universal.  For 
fully  two  years  I  added  none  to  the  serum  which  1  prepared, 
but  contented  m3^self  with  filtration  through  a  Kieselguhr 
filter,  and  bottling  under  aseptic  conditions.  At  one  time 
Roux  used  to  put  a  small  piece  of  camphor  in  each  bottle 
as  some  sort  of  safeguard  against  putrefaction.  Nowa- 
days I  believe  that  most  makers  preserve  their  sera  by 
adding  a  trace  of  trikresol — I  am  not  quite  sure  of  the 
amount,  but  it  is  either  .04  per  cent,  or  .004  per  cent. ! " 

But  it  is  probable  that  the  Zoophilist  will  still  accept 
the  authority  of  the  Medical  Brief.  Baccelli  got  good 
results,  in  tetanus,  from  the  administration  of  carbolic 
acid ;    therefore,   in    diphtheria,    the   good    results    from 


THE  CASE  AGAINST  ANTI-VIVISECTION    339 

diphtheria-antitoxin  are  due  to  the  carbolic  acid  in  it. 
That  is  the  argument.  But  there  is  no  carbohc  acid  in 
it  ?  Oh,  then  the  patient  got  well  of  himself,  the 
treatment  didn't  kill  him,  it  was  not  diphtheria  after 
all,  the  disease  has  altered  its  type  lately,  he  was  well 
nursed,  the  back  of  his  throat  was  painted  with  some- 
thing, the  doctor  got  half-a-crown  by  calling  it  diph- 
theria, the  bacillus  diphtheriae  may  be  found  in  healthy 
mouths,  and  all  bacteriology  is  base  and  blatant  mate- 
rialism. 

The  Argument  from   the  Death-rate 

There  is  another  argument  against  diphtheria-anti- 
toxin ;  we  may  call  it,  for  brevity,  the  death-rate 
argument.  It  is  this.  The  doctors  say  that  the  antitoxin 
does  save  lives  ;  they  give  tis  statistics  from  every  part  of 
the  world.  But,  if  it  saves  lives,  then  the  total  mortality 
ought  to  go  dozvn.  But  the  Registrar-Gcnerat s  7-eturns 
do  not  go  down  ;  indeed,  they  tend  to  go  up.  Therefore 
diphtheria-antitoxin  is  useless,  or  worse  than  useless.  By 
this  kind  of  logic,  umbrellas  are  useless.  If  they  were 
useful,  then  the  more  umbrellas  there  were,  the  less 
rain  there  would  be.  But  the  increase  in  umbrellas 
coincides  with  a  positive  increase  of  rain.  Therefore 
umbrellas  are  useless,  or  worse  than  useless. 

Despite  the  absurdity  of  this  argument,  Mr.  Coleridge 
and  Mr.  Somerville  Wood,  the  National  Society's  lec- 
turer, have  worked  hard  with  it  ;  Mr.  Coleridge  in  the 
press,  Mr.  Wood  on  the  platform.  Surely  this  confu- 
sion between  the  total  mortality  and  the  case-mortality 
of  an  epidemic  disease  is  a  very  serious  offence.  That 
there  may  be  no  doubt  of  the  confusion,  let  us  consider 
a  set  of  quotations,  out  of  a  correspondence  published 


340  EXPERIMENTS   ON    ANIMALS 

in  September— October  1902,  between  G.  P.,  whose 
initials  we  may  take  to  mean  general  practitioner,  and 
Mr.  Somerville  Wood.  This  correspondence  is  a  good 
instance  of  the  argument  in  its  usual  form  : — 

G.  P.  :  "  The  antitoxin  treatment  of  diphtheria  has 
lessened  the  mortality  from  that  disease  by  nearly  50 
per  cent.  In  the  hospitals  of  the  Metropolitan  Asylums 
Board  the  average  case-mortality  for  the  last  five  years 
of  the  pre-antitoxin  period,  i.e.  previous  to  1895,  was 
30.6;  that  for  1895  and  the  successive  four  years  was 
18. 1,  the  successive  figures  being  22.8,  21.2,  17.7,  15.4, 
and  13.6,  the  mortality  steadily  falling  with  increased 
familiarity  with  the  use  of  the  remedy.  This  has  not 
been  the  result  of  a  diminished  virulence  of  the  disease, 
as  similar  experience  has  been  gained  all  over  the  world. 
The  figures  for  Chicago  are  even  more  striking,  as  the 
averages  are  35.0  and  6.79  for  the  pre-  and  the  post- 
antitoxin  periods  respectively." 

Mr.  Wood  :  "  Nowadays,  almost  every  sore  throat  is 
called  diphtheritic,  antitoxin  is  given,  and  wonderful 
statistics  are  formulated  to  bolster  up  the  latest  medical 
craze.  The  real  test  is  whether  the  introduction  of  anti- 
toxin has  lowered  the  death-rate  generally  from  diph- 
theria. Here  are  the  Registrar-General's  figures :  In 
1887,  the  death-rate  from  diphtheria  per  million  persons 
in  this  country  was  140.  In  1897,  after  the  treatment 
had  been  used  several  years,  the  death-rate  from  this 
disease  increased  to  246  per  million." 

G.  P. :  "  Mr.  Wood's  statistics  do  not  vitiate  my  argu- 
ment in  the  very  slightest.  His  selected  figures,  using 
the  lowest  rate  since  1881,  merely  show  that  diphtheria 
as  a  whole  was  more  prevalent  in  1897  than  in  1887. 
He  cannot  and  does  not  attack  the  statement  that  the 
case-mortality  has  been  lessened  where  antitoxin  has 
been  used,  and  his  test  is  no  test  at  all." 

Mr.  Wood  :  "  Let  me  give  the  annual  death-rate  from 
diphtheria  to  a  milhon  living  persons  from  1881  to  1900, 


THE  CASE  AGAINST  ANTI-VIVISECTION     341 

taken    IVuiii    the    Rcgistrar-Gcnerars    returns."      (Gives 
them.) 

G.  P. :  "  One  last  word  in  answer  to  Mr.  Wood.  I 
repeat  that  his  figures  show  nothing  more  than  the 
accepted  fact  that  diphtheria  as  a  whole  has  been  incieas- 
ing  for  the  last  30  years.  Tiiis  has  no  bearing  at  all  on 
the  also  accepted  fact  that  where  antitoxin  is  used  the 
mortality  is  lessened,  and  Mr.  Wood  has  not,  in  fact, 
denied  this.  His  confusion  of  total  mortality  and  case- 
mortality  only  shows  that  he  does  not  understand  the 
elementary  principles  of  statistics." 

A  few  weeks  later,  at  the  Bonrnbrook  and  Selly  Oak 
Social  Cluby  Mr.  Wood  gives  his  "  thrilling  lecture,  with 
lantern  views,"  Behind  tJie  Closed  Doors  of  the  Labor a- 
tory :   one  of  his  stock  lectures.      In  it,  he  says  : — 

"The  proof  of  the  pudding  was  in  the  eating.  In  1881 
the  death-rate  from  diphtheria  was  127  per  million;  in 
1900  it  was  290  per  million.  He  had  but  to  state  that 
the  antitoxin  treatment  was  introduced  about  1894." 

Four  days  later,  at  an  overflowingly-atiended  Citizen 
Social  at  Birkenhead  : — 

**  The  proof  of  the  pudding  lay  in  the  eating.  In  188 1 
in  each  million  of  the  population  121  persons  died  from 
diphtheria,  while  in  1900  the  mortality  from  the  same  dis- 
ease was  290  persons  in  each  million  of  the  population, 
and  the  antitoxin  treatment  was  introduced  in  1894." 

A  few  weeks  later,  at  Ipswich,  the  same  thing.  This 
time,  he  is  challenged  by  letters  in  the  East  Anglian 
Daily  TitneSj  and  again  quotes  the  Registrar-General. 

A  few  weeks  later,  at  the  Hyde  Labour  Church  :  the 
Closed  Doors  of  the  Laboratory  again  : — 

**  He  found  from  the  Registrar-General's  returns  that 
the  death-rate  had  gone  up  in  cases  in  which  they  were 
told  that  wonderful  things  had  been  done  by  experiments 


342  EXPERIMENTS    ON    ANIMALS 

on  living  animals.  If  a  lower  death-rate  could  be  shown, 
then  the  vivisectionists  might  have  something  to  go  upon  ; 
but  they  could  not  show  a  lower  death-rate." 

That  was  in  January  1903.  In  December  1903, 
Mr.  Wood  is  still  using  the  same  argument ;  this  time 
it  is  a  lecture  at  Ashton  on  Viviseclion  and  the  Hospitals : 

"Again  and  again  had  the}^  defied  the  so-called  scientific 
world  to  put  their  finger  on  the  Registrar-General's  returns, 
and  show  them  a  single  instance  where  the  death-rate  had 
been  lowered  by  vivisection,  and  they  had  not  been  able 
to  do  it.  On  the  contrary,  he  found  that  the  death-rate 
had  gone  up  in  the  last  20  years,  despite  the  thousands 
of  animals  that  had  been  experimented  upon.  The  death- 
rate  in  diphtheria  was  100  per  million  more  than  it  was 
in  1878." 

Mr.  Wood  in  the  provinces,  and  Mr.  Coleridge  in  the 
papers,  have  used  this  argument  hard.  Let  us  look  at  it 
well.  It  has  been  refuted  again  and  again.  Take  a 
thousand  cases  of  diphtheria  from  any  civilised  part  of 
the  world,  in  the  days  before  antitoxin  ;  how  many  of 
them  died  ?  Take  a  thousand  cases  now,  treated  with 
antitoxin  ;  how  many  of  them  die  ?  Why  do  Mr.  Wood 
and  Mr.  Coleridge  run  away  from  that  easy  question  ? 
There  is  nothing  unfair  in  it ;  they  have  all  the  reports 
before  them  ;  they  know  the  facts  well.  We  do  not 
find  an}^  evidence  that  they  are  willing  to  acknowledge 
the  truth  of  those  facts.  Follow  Mr.  Somerville  Wood, 
from  place  to  place,  with  his  magic-lantern  and  his 
stock  of  lectures.  The  lantern-pictures  are  many  of 
them  taken  from  foreign  sources,  and  some  of  them  are 
of  great  age  ;  but  they  include  a  portrait  of  Mr,  Cole- 
ridge, and  some  comic  slides  to  be  shown  at  the  end  of 
the  lecture,  rabbits  vivisecting  a  professor,  and  so  forth. 
Certainly,  he  works    hard  ;    95    lectures   in   one   year; 


THE  CASE  AGAINST  AXTI-VIVISECTIOX    343 

we  cannot  better  employ  the  funds  at  our  disposal  than  in 
sending  well-informed  lecturers  to  every  city  in  the  kingdom 
to  rouse  the  just  indignation  of  the  people.  The  year  after 
that,  74  lectures  ;  on  two  occasions  he  has  spoken  when  un- 
suppotied  to  over  looo  people,  and  an  audience  of  several 
hundreds  is  quite  the  rule.  Here  he  is  at  Windsor,  with 
Bishop  Barry  in  the  chair,  and  he  says  to  them  : — 

**  Unhappily,  Pasteur,  left  his  microscope  and  chemicals 
and  took  up  the  vivisectionist's  knife.  In  that  he  got 
utterly  astray  and  became  nothing  more  than  a  mere 
quack." 

Here,  with  a  difterent  audience,  at  the  Mechanics' 
Lecture  Hall,  Nottingham,  giving  his  lantern-lecture  on 
Pasteurisni  to  a  )nost  respectable  audience  of  working  men, 
their  wives  ^  sons,  and  daughters,  a  fid  in  many  cases  children, 

''The  thesis  he  set  out  to  elaborate  and  maintain  was 
that  Pasteurism  produces  hydrophobia  rather  than  cures 
it ;  that  vivisection  under  any  circumstances  is  both  cruel 
and  immoral ;  and  that  with  special  reference  to  bacterial 
toxicology  and  the  treatment  by  inoculation,  the  prepara- 
tion of  toxins  b}'  the  Pasteur  methods  was  the  most 
horrible  form  of  repulsive  quackery  and  hideous  cruelty." 

Here  he  is  at  Birmingham,  asking  for  money,  and 
hinting  that,  unless  all  experiments  on  animals  are 
stopped,  tlic  poor  will  be  the  ultimate  victims.  Here,  at 
Gloucester,  saying  that  it  is  silly  to  experiment  at  all,  and 
that  he  is  not  going  to  take  his  views  as  to  right  and 
wrong  from  any  man  of  science,  however  learned  he 
may  be.  Here,  at  Edinburgh,  with  the  Closed  Doors 
again,  and  the  picture  of  the  rabbit  "  roasted  alive "  : 
three  grains  of  opium,  he  tells  them,  would  be  enough 
to  kill  the  strongest  navvy  in  Edinburgh,  but  16  grains 
can    be   administered   to   a   pigeon  ;   and   the   death-rate 


344  EXPERIMENTS   ON    ANIMALS 

has  gone  up  every  year  in  spite  of  vivisection.  Here, 
at  a  drawing-room  meeting,  asking  for  money  ;  here,  at 
a  garden  party,  with  a  considerable  number  of  persons 
ranging  themselves  on  the  grass,  and  he  tells  them  that  they 
have  on  their  side  all  that  is  best  in  every  department 
of  public  life  ;  here,  at  Blackburn,  with  the  Closed  Doors 
again,  calling  the  law  a  sham  and  a  farce ;  here,  at 
Cheltenham,  with  Bishop  Mitchinson  in  the  chair,  still 
quoting  the  Registrar-General,  and  saying  that  he  does 
not  think  the  outlook  was  ever  more  promising  than  it  is 
to-day.  All  over  the  kingdom,  he  and  his  magic-lantern, 
year  after  year,  goes  Mr.  Wood.  He  is  a  fluent  speaker; 
he  has  things  in  his  pocket ;  they  are  brought  out,  if 
you  contradict  him  ;  or  he  ''  challenges "  you,  or  ex- 
plains you  away,  or  says  that  you  ''  are  not  quite  play- 
ing the  game."  Let  him  alone  ;  to-morrow  he  will  pack 
up  his  lantern,  and  be  gone. 

Mr.  Coleridge,  in  his  use  of  the  death-rate  argument, 
carries  it  even  further  than  Mr.  Wood  ;  for  he  applies 
it  over  a  wider  range.  "  Look  at  myxoedema,"  he  says  ; 
"  the  doctors  tell  us  that  they  can  cure  it  with  thyroid 
extract,  and  that  the  use  of  thyroid  extract  was  dis- 
covered by  the  help  of  experiments  on  animals.  Ver3' 
good.  Myxoedema  is  due  to  some  fault  in  the  thy- 
roid gland.  Very  good.  But  here  are  the  Registrar- 
General's  returns  of  the  annual  death-rate  for  all 
diseases  of  that  gland.  See,  the  death-rate  has  gone 
up,  steadily,  during  the  last  20  years."  Was  there 
ever  such  an  argument  ?  It  is  only  of  late  years  that 
myxoedema  has  been  generally  recognised.  Till  it  was 
recognised,  it  was  not  diagnosed  ;  till  it  was  diagnosed, 
it  was  not  returned  as  a  cause  of  death.  Again,  there 
are  many  other  diseases  of  the  thyroid  gland,  including 
various  forms  of  malignant  disease.      It  is  cancer  of  the 


THE  CASE  AGAINST  ANTI-VIVISECTION    345 

thyroid  gland  that  decides  the  death-rate.  The  number 
of  deaths  from  niyxcedema,  especially  since  the  discovery 
of  thyroid  extract,  must  be  small  indeed.  Moreover, 
apart  from  Mr.  Coleridge's  fallacy  of  argument,  it  is 
impossible  to  see  how  he  can  really  doubt  the  efficacy 
of  the  thyroid  treatment,  both  in  myxoedema  and  in 
sporadic  cretinism. 

Again,  ''Look  at  the  diseases  of  the  circulation,"  he 
says.  "  The  doctors  say  that  digitalis  and  nitrite  of 
amyl  act  on  the  heart  ;  and  that  the  action  of  these 
drugs  was  discovered  by  the  help  of  experiments  on 
animals.  Ver}^  good.  The  heart  is  concerned  with  the 
circulation.  Very  good.  But  here  are  the  Registrar- 
General's  returns  of  the  annual  death-rate  for  all 
diseases  of  the  circulation.  See  how  it  has  gone  up, 
from  1 37 1  per  million  persons  in  1881  to  1709  in 
1900.  Therefore,  either  these  two  drugs  are  never 
used,  or  they  are  useless,  or  the  Registrar-General's 
returns  are  false."  It  is  impossible  to  understand 
how  Mr.  Coleridge  could  bring  himself  to  write  thus. 
Digitalis  has  a  certain  effect  on  the  heart-beat ;  nitrite 
of  amyl  diminishes  arterial  tension.  The  Registrar- 
General's  returns  for  all  diseases  of  the  circulation 
include  every  sort  and  kind  of  organic  disease  of 
the  valves  of  the  heart  ;  include  also  pericarditis, 
aneurism,  senile  gangrene,  embolism,  phlebitis,  vari- 
cose veins,  and  35,499  deaths  from  "other  and  unde- 
fined diseases  of  heart  or  circulatory  system." 

Rabies 

For  rabies,  Mr.  Berdoe  praises  the  "  Buisson  Bath 
Treatment  for  the  Prevention  and  Cure  of  H3'dro- 
phobia."      The  virtues  of  this  treatment  are  proclaimed 


346  EXPERIMENTS    ON    ANIMALS 

by  the  Chairman  of  the  Canine  Defence  League,  F.  E. 
Pirkis,  Esq.,  R.N.,  of  Nutfield,  Surrey,  and  it  is  founded, 
we  are  told,  on  the  simple  common- sense  principle  that  if 
poison  is  injected  into  a  persons  veins  the  best  thing  to  do 
is  to  get  it  out  as  quickly  as  possible.  This  sentence, 
and  the  reference  to  Mr.  Pirkis  for  further  particulars, 
and  the  fact  that  there  is,  or  was,  a  Buisson  Bath  at 
the  "  National  Anti-vivisection  Hospital,"  bring  us  to 
the  question.  What  is  the  value  of  the  evidence  in 
favour  of  this   treatment  ? 

Mr.  Berdoe,  in  his  Catechism  of  Vivisection  (1903), 
gives  this  evidence  at  considerable  length.  The  treat- 
ment, he  says,  is  simplicity  itself.  It  is  merely  the  use  of 
the  vapour  bath,  zvhich  causes  a  free  action  of  the  skin  to 
be  set  up,  this  draws  the  blood  to  the  surface  of  the  body, 
and  so  relieves  the  congestion  of  the  internal  organs.      Let 

us  consider   this   sentence,      (i.)   Suppose  that  X 

were  bitten  by  a  mad  dog,  say  on  March  ist,  and  on 
March  8th  he  took  a  course  of  Buisson  Baths,  for 
safety's  sake.  There  would  be  no  congestion,  at  that 
period,  of  his  internal  organs  ;  what  would  be  the  good 
of  drawing  the  blood  to  the  surface  of  his  body  ?  Mr. 
Pirkis  says  that  there  would  be  poison  in  his  veins  ;  it 
would  be  a  very  subtle  poison.  How  can  Mr.  Pirkis  tell 
that  it  is   all  in  his  veins   and   none  of  it  elsewhere  ? 

Again,  X would   be  feeling  perfectly  well.      How 

would  a  vapour-bath  get  this  poison  out  of  his  veins  ? 
It  could  not  do  it  by  relieving  the  congestion  of  his 
internal  organs,  for  they  would  not  be  congested.  How 
would  it  do  it  ?      And  how  would  Mr.  Pirkis  know  when 

it  had  done  it  ?      (2.)  Suppose  that  X were  bitten 

by  a  mad  dog,  and,  in  due  time,  were  seized  by  hydro- 
phobia. Has  Mr.  Pirkis  ever  seen  a  case  of  that  disease 
— ever  seen  a  case  of  hydrophobia  ?    Are  they  going  to 


THE  CASE  AGAINST  ANTI-VIVISECTION    347 

tie  X down, or  steam  him  under  chloroform, or  what? 

And  how  many  baths  would  he  want  ?  But  there  are  cases ; 
there  is  evidence  ;  a  "  mass  of  cures  in  Asia."  Let  us  look 
at  tht-m  ;  and  let  us  divide  them  into  cases  of  prevention 
and  cases  of  cure.     Let  us  take,  first,  the  cases  of  cure. 

There  are  five  of  these.  Five,  and  no  more.  One 
is  Dr.  Buisson  ;  cured  by  one  bath,  while  he  was  trying 
to  commit  suicide  ;  nothing  said  about  the  dog.  One 
is  a  case  at  Kischineff,  'near  Odessa,  i  8  years  ago  ;  no 
evidence  is  given  that  the  dog  was  rabid.  One  is  a 
case  at  Arlington,  New  Jersey,  i  8  years  ago  ;  no  evi- 
dence is  given  that  the  dog  was  rabid.  One  is  the 
case  of  Pauline  Kiehl  ;  no  date ;  no  reference  to  say 
where  the  case  is  published ;  no  account  of  her 
symptoms.  And  one  is  a  case  at  the  Jaffna  Hospital, 
Ceylon  ;  no  date  ;  and  nothing  said  about  the  dog.  Of 
these  five  cases,  three  were  a  boy,  a  lad,  and  a  little 
girl ;  but  their  ages  are  not  given.  Five  cases  in  20 
years  ;  they  hail  from  all  parts  of  the  world,  France, 
Russia,  the  United  States,  Ceylon,  and  France  again  ; 
three  of  them  happened  i  8  years  ago,  or  more.  And, 
we  may  be  certain,  not  one  of  them  is  genuine.  Spurious 
hydrophobia,  the  simulation  of  the  disease  out  of  sheer 
terror  of  it,  as  in  Dr.  Buisson's  case,  is  well  known. 

Now  we  come  to  the  cases  of  prevention.  Over  80 
of  them,  we  are  told  ;  but  seven  are  especially  noted. 
Four  in  1895,  under  the  care  of  Dr.  Ganguli  of  Dinajpur; 
two  in  1896,  under  the  care  of  Dr.  Dass  of  Narainganj  ; 
and  one  in  1896,  Mr.  Kotwal  of  Bassein.  Of  this 
"  mass  of  cures  in  Asia,"  we  all  know  what  would  have 
been  said  if  Pasteur  had  been  in  charge  of  them  ;  that 
the  dogs  were  not  rabid,  that  the  bites  were  not  in- 
fected, that  the  wonder  is  that  the  poor  deluded  victims 
were   not  added  to  Pasteur's  hecatomb. 


348  EXPERIMENTS   ON    ANIMALS 

Next,  what  does  J\Ir.  Berdoe  say  of  the  division  of 
all  patients  at  the  Pasteur  Institute  into  classes  A,  B, 
and  C  ?  Does  he  admit  that  a  dog  is  proved  to  have 
been  rabid,  if  a  minute  portion  of  its  nervous  tissue, 
taken  from  it  after  death,  and  put  into  a  rabbit,  causes 
the  rabbit  to  have  paral3^tic  rabies  ?  No  ;  there  are 
still  two  things  left  for  him  to  say  : — 

1.  He  says,  on  the  authority  of  the  Veterinmy  Record 
of  ten  3^ears  ago,  that  the  deatJi  of  a  rabbit  with  cerebral 
symptoms  is  not  a  positive  indication  of  dcatJi  from  rabies. 

2.  He  says  that  Vulpian  discovered  that  healthy 
human  saliva  was  poisonous  to  rabbits,  and  that  it  con- 
tained a  micro-organism  which  Pasteur  had  also  found 
in  the  saliva  of  a  rabid  patient.  What  does  this  state- 
ment prove  or  disprove  ?  It  is  twent3'-five  3'ears  old  ; 
but  Mr.  Somerville  Wood,  not  long  ago,  used  it  at  a 
debating  society  with  great  fervour. 

Also  Mr.  Berdoe  quotes  the  late  M.  Peter,  Dr.  Lutaud's 
forerunner  ;  quotes  an  obiter  dictum  of  Professor  Billroth, 
but  without  any  date  ;  tells  us  that  Pasteur  himself,  in 
a  letter,  referring  to  one  particular  case,  declared 
cauterisation  to  be  a  sufficient  preventive,  but  does  not 
tell  us  the  date  of  the  letter,  or  the  facts  of  the  case ; 
and  quotes  a  death-rate,  but  stops  at  1890.  Of  course, 
any  method  of  treatment,  if  you  ransack  its  records 
over  a  sufficient  number  of  years,  will  show,  now  and 
again,  failures  or  disasters.  Take,  for  instance,  those 
methods  of  light-treatment,  which  Mr.  Berdoe  praises 
so  highly.  They  have  had  many  failures,  and  one  or 
two  disasters.  If  the}^  had  been  discovered  by  the 
help  of  experiments  on  animals,  we  might  have  had 
a  pamphlet  from  the  National  Societ}^,  The  Roentgen 
"  Cure  "  .•   its  list  of  Victims. 


THE  CASE  AGAINST  ANTI-VIVISECTION    349 


Certificate  A   and   Certificate   B 

Frequent  use  has  been  made  of  some  words  spoken 
by  the  Home  Secretary  in  ParHament,  on  July  24th, 
1899.  He  was  asked  wliether  he  would  state  what 
rules  were  laid  down  with  regard  to  the  granting  or 
signing  of  certificates  dispensing  with  the  use  of  anaes- 
thetics in  experiments- on  animals  ;  and  whether  there 
was  any  limit  to  the  number  of  such  certificates  which 
one  person  might  sign,  or  to  the  number  of  experiments 
upon  different  animals  which  might  be  performed  by  the 
person  holding  one  such  certificate.  There  can  be  no 
doubt  as  to  the  meaning  of  these  questions.  Certificate 
A,  which  is  granted  only  for  inoculation  experiments  or 
similar  proceedings,  and  never  for  any  serious  cutting 
operation,  dispenses  wholl}'-  with  anaesthetics.  Certifi- 
cate B,  which  is  granted  for  any  kind  of  operation  plus 
observation  of  the  animal  after  operation,  dispenses 
partly  with  anaesthetics ;  that  is  to  say,  the  operation 
is  done  under  an  anaesthetic,  and  the  subsequent 
observation  of  the  animal,  which  is  counted  as  part  of 
the  experiment,  is  made  without  an  anaesthetic.  The 
questions  come  to  this  :  When  the  Home  Office  grants 
Certificate  A,  or  Certificate  B,  what  precautions  does  it 
take  against  any  abuse  of  these  certificates,  and  what 
restrictions  does  it  impose  on  them  ? 

The  Home  Secretary  answered : 

"  It  is  the  practice  of  the  Home  Office,  in  addition  to 
the  fact  that  all  certificates  expire  on  December  31st  of 
the  year  in  which  they  are  granted,  to  limit  the  number, 
and  this  is  always  done  in  the  case  of  serious  experiments 
in  which  the  use  of  anaesthetics  is  wholly  or  partly  dis- 
pensed with." 


350  EXPERIMENTS    ON    ANIMALS 

The  Times  says  that  the  Home  Secretary  said 
*'  serious  experiments."  Mr.  Coleridge  says  that 
Hansard  says  that  the  Home  Secretary  said  "  serious 
operations."  We  need  not  doubt  that  Mr.  Coleridge 
is  right ;  but  we  may  doubt  whether  Hansard  under- 
lines the  word  wholly,  as  Mr.  Coleridge  does.  Anyhow^ 
it  does  not  matter  now  whether  the  Home  Secretary, 
seven  3''ears  ago,  said  experiments  or  operations.  His 
meaning  is  clear  enough  ;  that,  in  all  serious  procedures, 
whether  the}^  be  under  Certificate  A  or  under  Certificate 
B,  a  limit  is  put  to  the  number  of  experiments.  Which 
is  the  plain  truth,  as  everybody  knows  who  is  concerned 
in  the  administration  of  the  Act ;  and  the  limit  may  be 
very  strict  indeed.  After  this  statement  by  the  Home 
Secretar}'  in  1S99,  we  still  find  Dr.  Abiathar  Wall,  the 
Hon.  Treasurer  of  the  London  Anti-vivisection  Society, 
saying  in  1900  that  a  vivisect  or  has  only  to  say  that  he 
has  a  theory  whereby  he  hopes  to  discover  a  cure  for,  say^ 
neuralgia  of  the  little  finger^  and  the  Home  Secretary 
promptly  arms  him  with  a  license  to  torture  as  diabolically  as 
he  pleases  and  as  many  animals  as  he  deems  fit.  And  the 
National  Societ}^  has  made  constant  use  of  this  phrase 
about  '•  serious  experiments  "  ;  declaring  that  the  Home 
Secretar}^  himself  has  said  that  animals  are  tortured 
under  the  Act.  Here  are  three  statements  to  that  effect, 
made  by  the  National  Society's  Parliamentary  Secretary, 
by  its  Lecturer,  and  b}^  its  Hon.  Secretar}'-  : — ■ 

I.  (Annual  Meeting,  Queen's  Hall,  May  1900.) — "If 
you  are  still  unconvinced — if  any  one  is  not  thoroughly 
satisfied  that  there  is  ample  cause  for  the  anti-vivi- 
sectionist  movement  to-day — it  is  only  necessary  for  me 
to  refer  you  to  the  words  of  the  Home  Secretary,  as 
spoken    in    Parliament,    in    the    3'ear    1898.^     He    said  : 

^  This  should  be  1899. 


THE  CASE  AGAINST  ANTI-VIVISECTION    351 

'There  are  serious  operations  which  are  performed, 
during  which  the  use  of  anaesthetics  is  wholly  or  partially 
dispensed  with.'  Could  there  be  any  more  sweeping 
indictment  than  that  ?  Is  there  any  need  for  me  to 
attempt  to  convince  you  that  the  lower  animals  are 
vivisected  painfully,  after  the  words  officially  spoken  by 
the  Home  Secretary  in  the  House  of  Commons  ?  " 

2.  "If  you  want  any  further  proof  I  will  quote  from 
Hansard,  July  24th,  1899,  when  the  then  Home  Secretary 
stated  in  the  House  of  Commons  that  serious  experi- 
ments take  place  under  the  law  of  England,  in  which  the 
use  of  anaesthetics  is  wholly  or  partially  dispensed  with. 
Now,  I  affirm  that  serious  experiments  in  which  anaes- 
thetics are  wholly  or  partially  dispensed  with  mean 
torture  pure  and  simple." 

3.  (Annual  Meeting,  St.  James's  Hall,  May  1901.) — 
^'  If  this  were  not  enough,  the  late  Home  Secretary  has 
told  us  the  facts.  I  have  Hansard  here.  On  July  24th, 
1899,  the  late  Home  Secretar}'  in  his  place  in  Parliament, 
and  in  his  official  capacity  as  Home  Secretary,  told  us 
that  *  serious  experiments,  in  which  the  use  of  anaes- 
thetics have  been  wholly  or  partially  dispensed  with,'  do 
take  place  in  English  laboratories.  We  know,  therefore, 
that  torture  does  take  place." 

Each  of  the  three  speakers  uses  this  phrase  as  a  final 
and  irresistible  argument.  If  yon  are  still  unconvinced. 
If  you  want  any  further  proof  If  this  were  not  enough 
— they  all  of  them  play  the  Home  Secretary',  as  a  sure 
card  :  at  Queen's  Hall,  at  St.  James's  Hall,  they  produce 
him  as  though  it  were  indeed  unanswerable.  Since  they 
are  willing  to  go  back  to  July,  let  us  take  them  back  to 
May.  This  phrase  about  **  serious  experiments "  was 
spoken  on  July  24th,  1899.  On  May  9th  of  that  year, 
a  question  was  put  and  answered  in  the  House.  It 
was  put  by  the  same  gentleman  who  put  the  question  in 
July  ;  it  was  answered   by  the  same  Home  Secretary ; 


352  EXPERIMENTS   ON   ANIMALS 

and  it  was  practically  the   same  question.      The  Home 
Secretary,  in  his  answer  to  it,  said  : — 

"The  sole  use  of  this  Certificate  (B)  is  to  authorise  the 
keeping  alive  of  the  animal,  after  the  influence  of  the 
anaesthetic  has  passed  off,  for  the  purpose  of  observation 
and  study.  I  should  certainl}^  not  allow  any  certificate 
involving  dissections  or  painful  operations  without  the 
fresh  use  of  anaesthetics." 

Here,  in  May  1899,  we  have  this  emphatic  state- 
ment, that  Certificate  B  is  not  allowed  for  "  serious 
operations  without  anaesthetics."  Why  did  the  National 
Society  stop  at  July  ?  If  it  had  onh'  gone  a  few  weeks 
further  back,  a  surprise  was  in  store  for  it.  But  at 
July  it  stuck  ;  thus  it  was  still  able  to  say  all  sorts  of 
things  about  "  legalised  torture."  So  late  as  May  6th, 
1902,  at  the  great  annual  meeting  at  St.  James's  Hall, 
the  Rev.  Reginald  Talbot  said  : — 

"Certificate  B  makes  it  necessary  that  the  operator 
should  produce  complete  anaesthesia  during  the  initial 
operation,  but  (please  mark  this)  after  the  initial  opera- 
tion is  over,  after  the  animal  has  returned  to  the  state  of 
semi  or  complete  consciousness,  there  is  then  allowed  by 
this  certificate  a  period  of  observation  upon  a  semi- 
sensible  or  completely  sensible  animal.  The  animal  is 
opened,  is  disembowelled,  and  in  that  condition  his  vital 
organs  can  be  probed  and  stimulated.  Now  that  is 
something  more  than  pain ;  it  deserves  something  more 
than  the  name  of  even  severe  and  prolonged  pain.  Surely 
this  comes  within  the  tract  and  region  of  what  we  may 
call  agony." 

As  for  Certificate  A,  the  inoculations-certificate,  which 
is  used  for  inoculations  only,  and  therefore  is  granted 
for  nine  experiments  out  of  every  ten,  he  said  : — 

"There  is  a  Certificate  A,  which,  if  it  were  granted, 
and  when  it  is  granted — and  pray  you  mark  my  words, 


THE  CASE  AGAINST  ANTI-VIVISECTION    353 

for  I  know  what  I  am  speaking  about,  and  I  want  you  to 
know  too — would  allow  major  operations  to  be  performed 
upon  animals,  cats,  dogs,  or  any  other  animals,  without 
the  use  of  any  anaesthetic  at  all.  I  know  quite  well  that 
that  certificate  has  not  been  applied  for,  or  has  not  been 
granted  this  last  year,  or,  so  far  as  I  know,  in  any  pre- 
vious year,  but  I  sa}'  this,"  &c. 

It  is  impossible  to  understand  these  words.  Certifi- 
cate A  is  never  granted  for  major  operations.  It  is 
never  granted  (save  in  conjunction  with  another  certifi- 
cate) for  any  sort  or  kind  of  experiment  on  a  cat  or  a 
dog,  or  a  horse,  or  an  ass,  or  a  mule.  It  is  more  in 
use  than  all  the  other  certificates  put  together;  it  covers 
nine  experiments  out  of  every  ten.  We  shall  try  in 
vain  to  guess  how  this  mistake  arose  in  the  speaker's 
mind.  But,  at  the  great  annual  meeting  of  the  chief  of 
all  the  anti-vivisection  societies,  it  is  strange  indeed  that 
nobody  seems  to  have  corrected  him.  This  description 
of  a  certificate  which  does  not  exist — /  know  ivhai  I  ant 
speaking  about,  he  says,  and  I  want  you  to  knoiv  too — 
was  applauded  by  an  audience  that  filled  the  whole 
hall.  Nobody  on  the  platform  put  him  right.  And, 
in  the  next  number  of  its  official  journal,  the  National 
Society  reported  every  word  of  his  speech,  and  said 
that  he  had  atialysed  the  Act  and  its  administration  in  a 
striking  and  powerful  manner. 

Curare 

"Curare,"  says  Mr.  Berdoe,  ''paralyses  the  peri- 
pheral ends  of  motor  nerves,  even  when  given  in  very 
minute  doses."  That  is  to  say,  it  prevents  all  voluntary 
motion.  Then  comes  this  frank  admission,  "Large 
doses  paralyse  the  vagus  nerve  and  the  ends  of  sensory 

Z 


354  EXPERIMENTS   ON    ANIMALS 

nerves."  That  is  to  say,  it  can  be  pushed,  under  arti- 
ficial respiration,  till  it  paralyses  sensation.  With  small 
doses,  the  ends  of  the  motor  nerves  lose  touch  with  the 
voluntary  muscles.  With  large  doses,  under  artificial 
respiration,  the  ends  of  the  sensory  nerves  lose  touch 
with  the  brain.  Let  us  agree  with  Mr.  Berdoe  that 
curare  does  act  in  this  way  ;  that  it  does  not  heighten 
sensation,  and  has  no  effect,  save  in  very  large  doses, 
on  sensation,  and  then  abolishes  sensation.  Only,  of 
course,  to  procure  this  anaesthetic  effect,  the  animal  may 
have  to  be  subjected  to  artificial  respiration. 

(The  evidence  as  to  the  action  of  curare  on  the  sen- 
sory nerves  rests  not  on  the  case  of  accidental  poisoning 
recorded  by  Mr.  White,  though  that  case  does  point  that 
way,  but  on  Schiff's  experiments  on  the  local  exclusion 
of  the  poison  from  one  leg  of  the  frog  by  ligature  of  an 
artery.) 

This,  surely,  is  a  true  definition  of  curare,  that  it  is 
a  painless  poison,  which  in  small  doses  prevents  the 
transmission  of  motor  impulses  ;  and,  in  large  doses, 
which  may  necessitate  the  use  of  artificial  respiration, 
prevents  the  transmission  of  sensory  impulses.  Mr. 
Berdoe  can  hardly  refuse  to  accept  this  definition  ; 
indeed,  it  is  his  own.  And,  certainly,  he  would  be  a 
bold  man  who  said  that  a  small  dose  of  curare  has  any 
effect  on  sensation  ;  or  that  the  exact  strength  of  any 
one  specimen  of  curare  is  standardised  as  a  supply  of 
antitoxin  is  standardised. 

Now  we  have  a  perfect  right  to  take  a  practical 
view  of  curare.  At  the  present  time,  and  in  our  own 
country,  how  is  it  used  ?  The  Act  forbids  its  use  as 
an  anaesthetic.  What  evidence  does  Mr.  Berdoe  bring 
that  it  is  so  used  ? 


THE  CASE  AGAINST  ANTI-VIVISECTION    355 

1.  He  quotes  Professor  Rutherford's  experiments. 
These  were  made  at  least  16  or  17  years  ago. 

2.  He  quotes  Dr.  Porter's  paper,  "On  the  Results 
of  Ligation  of  the  Coronary  Arteries."  {Journal  of 
Physiology,  vol.  xv.  1 894,  p.  12  I.)  Dr.  Porter  speaks 
of  four  experiments  made  under  morphia  plus  curare. 
These  experiments  were  made  at  Berlin,  14  years  ago, 
by  the  Professor  of  Ph3'siology  at  Harvard,  U.S.A. 

3.  He  refers  to  Professor  Stewart's  papers,  in  the 
same  volume  of  the  Journal  of  Physiology.  The  one 
experiment  which  he  quotes  at  some  length  was  made 
at  Strasburg,   14  years  ago  or  more. 

But  we  want  to  know  what  is  done  now  and  here 
under  the  Act,  not  what  was  done  at  Berlin  or  Stras- 
burg 14  or  more  3'ears  ago.  Still,  the  experiments  by 
Professor  Stewart  have  been  in  constant  use,  among 
the  opponents  of  all  experiments  on  animals.  In  May 
1900,  at  the  great  annual  meeting  of  the  National 
Society,  at  Queen's  Hall,  Dr.  Reinhardt  said  : — 

"I  will  pass  on  to  prove  to  you,  by  a  few  conclusive 
evidences,  for  which  I  can  give  3'ou  chapter  and  verse, 
that  torture  is  inflicted  on  animals  by  British  vivisectors 
to-day.  Now,  if  you  buy  the  15th  volume  o(  ihe  Journal 
of  Physiology,  and  look  at  page  86,  3'ou  will  find  there,"  etc. 

To  prove  that  animals  are  tortured  in  England  to- 
day, he  quotes  one  experiment  made  at  Strasburg  ever 
so  long  ago.  And,  in  1901,  Mr.  Coleridge  wrote, 
in  the  Morning  Leader^  saying  :  It  is  with  curare,  which 
paralyses  motion  and  leaves  sensation  intact,  that  all  the 
most  shocking  vivisections  are  performed.  And,  the  same 
year,  Mr.  Stephen  Smith,  a  "  Medical  Patron  "  of  the 
London  Society,  wrote  :  /  state  emphatically  that  when 
curare  is  used,  proper  anaesthesia  is  out  of  the  question,    .    .   . 


356  EXPERIMENTS   ON   ANIMALS 

Curare  is  used  daily  throughout  England.  Mention  of  an 
ancesthetic  in  a  report  is  no  guarantee  that  the  animal  was 
anaesthetised. 

I  cannot  find,  in  all  the  anti-vivisection  literature 
which  I  have  read,  any  shadow  of  evidence  that  any 
experiment  of  any  sort  or  kind  has  been  made  in  this 
country,  on  any  sort  or  kind  of  animal,  under  curare 
alone,  for  the  last  sixteen  or  seventeen  years.  I  believe 
that  I  might  go  further  back  than  that.  But  surely 
that  is  far  enough. 

Certainly,  so  long  as  any  curare  is  used  (not  as  an 
anaesthetic,  but  in  conjunction  with  an  anaesthetic)  in 
any  experiments  on  animals  in  this  country,  the  societies 
will  not  trouble  to  inquire  how  much  of  it  is  used.  I 
wrote,  therefore,  to  the  Professors  of  Physiology  at 
Edinburgh,  Cambridge,  and  Oxford,  and  asked  them  to 
tell  me  how  much  curare  was  used  in  their  laboratories 
throughout  1903,  and  what  anaesthetics  were  given 
with  it.  Some  opponents  of  experiments  on  animals 
seem  to  think  that  curare  is  used  ver}'  often.  One  of 
them  sa3^s  that  it  is  "  used  daity  throughout  England." 
So  I  wrote  to  these  Professors  at  our  Universities,  and 
they  kindly  sent  the  following  answers  : — 

I.  ''Your  question  re  curare  is  easily  answered.  We 
did  fio  experiments  with  it  during  the  past  year.  Indeed, 
I  have  given  it  up  almost  entirely  for  years,  chiefly  be- 
cause it  is  very  difficult  to  get  a  preparation  which — I 
suppose  from  impurities — does  not  seriously  affect  the 
heart.  There  might  still  be  occasions  during  which  it  is 
necessary  to  use  it — if,  e.g.  the  leas^  muscular  movement 
would  vitiate  the  results  of  an  experiment.  But  I  find  it 
possible  in  nearly  all  cases  to  get  such  absolute  quiescence 
with  morphia  or  chloral  (besides  ether  and  chloroform) 
that  to  all  intents  and  purposes  I  have  long  given  up  the 


THE  CASE  AGAINST   AN  ri-VlVISECTION    357 

use  of  curare.     Of  course,  if  I  had  occasion  to  use  it,  an 
anjvsthetic  would  be  administered  at  the  same  time." 

2.  *'  I  have  asked  those  who  worked  in  the  physio- 
logical laboratories  in  1 903  to  give  me  a  return  of  the 
number  of  experiments  done  and  of  the  number  in  which 
curare  was  used.  Including  my  own  experiments,  I  find 
that  160  in  all  were  made  under  the  License  and  Certi- 
ficates B,  EE,  C.  Curare  was  given  in  four  cases  ;  in 
two  of  these  the  A.C.E.  mixture  was  the  anaesthetic,  in 
the  other  two  ether." 

3.  At  the  third  laboratory,  during  1903,  curare  was 
given  to  seven  frogs  deprived  of  their  brains  before  it 
was  given,  and  to  one  rabbit  under  ether. 

That  was  the  whole  use  of  curare,  during  a  whole 
year,  in  three  great  Universities  :  at  one,  seven  inanimate 
frogs,  and  one  rabbit  under  ether ;  at  another,  four 
animals,  under  A.C.E.  or  ether ;  at  another,  nothing. 


Incomplete  Anesthesia 

It  sometimes  happens,  at  an  operation,  that  the 
patient  moves.  Mostly,  this  movement  is  at  the 
moment  of  the  first  incision  through  the  skin  ;  but 
it  may  be  at  some  later  period  during  the  operation. 
He  does  not  remember,  after  the  operation,  that  he 
moved,  or  that  he  felt  anything.  That  is  incomplete 
anaesthesia,  or  light  anaesthesia.  The  corneal  reflex 
may  be  abolished,  and  still  the  patient  may  move. 

Seven  years  ago  some  experiments  were  made  in  this 
country  by  an  American  surgeon.  In  the  published 
account  of  them,  it  was  said  that  one  of  the  animals 
was,  at  one  time,  under  incomplete  anaesthesia,  and  that, 
in  the  case  of  another  animal,  the  anaesthesia  was  at 
one   time    overlooked.      This    latter    phrase    meant    not 


358  EXPERIMENTS   ON    ANIMALS 

that  the  anaesthetic  had  been  left  off,  but  that  it  had 
been  given  in  excess,  so  that  the  blood-pressure  sud- 
denly fell.  The  character  of  the  experiments,  and  the 
occurrence  of  these  two  phrases  about  the  anaesthesia, 
roused  some  criticism,  and  the  Home  Office  instituted 
an  inquiry  into  the  matter.  ''  That  inquiry/'  it  said, 
October  iith,  1899,  "resulted  in  showing  no  evidence 
whatever  that  the  animals  experimented  on  by  Dr.  Crile 
felt  pain.  On  the  contrary,  all  the  evidence  shows  they 
did  not."  The  Act  does  not  go  into  questions  of 
corneal  reflex,  and  unconscious  muscular  movements, 
and  all  the  undefinable  shades  between  incomplete 
anaesthesia  and  complete  anaesthesia  and  profound  an- 
aesthesia. "  The  only  substantial  question,"  says  the 
Home  Office,  "  is  whether  or  no  the  animal  has  been 
during  the  operation  under  the  influence  of  an  anaesthetic 
of  sufficient  power  to  prevent  it  feeling  pain.  This  is 
the  requirement  of  the  law."  We  cannot  refuse  to  call 
morphia  and  chloral  anaesthetics,  for  there  are  deaths 
every  year  from  an  overdose  of  them.  And  we  cannot 
admit  that  an  animal  under  an  anaesthetic,  because  it 
makes  a  movement,  is  in  pain  or  is  conscious  ;  for  we 
know  that  a  patient  under  operation  may  move  yet  feel 
nothing.  Every  hospital  surgeon,  and  every  anaesthetist, 
who  has  seen  a  whole  legion  of  patients  go  under 
chloroform  or  ether  and  come  out  of  it,  and  everybody 
who  has  been  under  these  anaesthetics,  they  all  know 
that  incomplete  anaesthesia  is  not  "  sham  anaesthesia," 
and  that  movements,  even  purposive  movements,  may 
occur  without  consciousness,  without  pain,  alike  in  men 
and  in  animals. 


THE  CASE  AGAINST  ANTI-VIVISECTION    359 


One  Animal  and  One   Experiment 

When  the  Home  Office  allows  a  licensee  to  make  a 
certain  number  of  experiments,  it  means  that  he  may 
experiment  on  that  number  of  animals  and  no  more. 
The  Home  Office,  having  heard  what  the  experiments 
are  to  be,  where  they  are  to  be  made,  on  what  kind  of 
animals,  and  for  what  f)urpose,  and  having  taken  advice 
about  them,  allows  him  to  make  a  fixed  number,  and 
adds  any  restrictions  that  it  likes,  e.g.  that  he  must  send 
in  a  preliminary  report  when  he  has  made  half  that 
number.  And  one  thing  is  certain,  that  one  experiment 
=  one  animal,  and  that  10  experiments  =  10  animals, 
and  no  more.  Everybody  knows  that,  who  knows  any- 
thing at  all  about  the  administration  of  the  Act. 

Now  take  a  false  statement,  which  has  been  made 
again  and  again  during  many  years,  that  one  experiment 
=  any  number  of  animals,  and  observe  how  it  spread. 

1.  In  the  House  of  Commons,  on  March  12th,  1897, 
Mr.  MacNeill  asked  whether  any  record  were  kept  of 
the  number  of  animals  used  in  experiments  during 
1895,  and  said  that  200  or  300  animals  are  sometimes 
used  in  a  single  experiment,  and  that  80  or  90  is  a 
common  number.  The  Home  Secretary  answered  : 
'*  The  honourable  member  is  under  an  entire  mis- 
apprehension. The  number  of  animals  used  does  not 
exceed  the  number  of  experiments  given  in  the  return." 

2.  A  year  later,  May  i8th,  1898,  at  the  Annual 
Meeting  of  the  National  Society,  Mr.  MacNeill  said 
again :  "  Any  one  casually  reading  that  report  (the 
Inspector's  report  to  Government)  would  imagine  that 
each  experiment  was  on  the  body  of  a  single  animal. 
It  is  nothing  of  the  kind.      An  experiment  is  a  series  of 


300  EXPERIMENTS   ON    ANIMALS 

investigations  in  some  particular  branch,  and  sometimes 
20,  30,  or  40  animals  are  sacrificed  in  the  one  experi- 
ment." The  National  Society  pubHshed  this  speech 
in   its  official  journal. 

3.  A  few  weeks  later,  an  anonymous  letter  in  the 
Bradford  Observer  said,  "  Any  one  casually  reading  the 
report  would  imagine  that  each  experiment  was  on  the 
body  of  a  single  animal.  It  is  nothing  of  the  kind. 
An  experiment  is  a  series  of  investigations  in  some 
particular  branch,  and  sometimes  20,  30,  or  40  animals 
are  sacrificed  in  the  one  experiment." 

4.  On  August  1st,  1898,  the  National  Society 
published  this  letter  in  its  official  journal,  under  the 
heading,   "  Our  Cause  in   the   Press." 

5.  On  October  21st,  1902,  a  letter  in  a  provincial 
paper  said  that  "  one  experiment "  means  "  not  one 
animal,   but   a  series   of  operations  on   many  animals." 

6.  In  January  1903,  the  National  Society  admitted 
that  its  action  in  1898  (see  4)  was  '*  unfortunate." 

7.  On  June  25,  1903,  in  Parliament,  Mr.  MacNeill 
again  said  that  '*  an  experiment "  did  not  mean  one 
operation,  but  a  series  of  researches,  "  often  performed 
by  persons  who  had  no  more  skill  than  the  children 
who  broke  up  a  watch." 

8.  About  this  time,  the  same  false  statement  was 
made   by  an  Anti-vivisection   Society  at   Manchester. 

9.  A  little  later,  it  was  made  by  the  National 
Canine  Defence  League,  in  these  words,  ^'  Each  ex- 
periment may  include  any  number  of  dogs.  There 
is  no  limit  fixed  by  law."  On  January  iith,  1904, 
in  the  Times,  the  leaflet  containing  this  and  other 
"  grossly  false  and  misleading  statements "  was  vehe- 
mently denounced   by   the   National  Society. 

It   would    be   hard   to  find  a  better  instance  of  the 


THE  CASE  AGAINST  ANTI-VIVISECTION    361 

spreadintj  of  a  false  report.  An  experiment  ?  Oh,  it 
is  any  number  of  animals — 20  of  them,  30  of  them  ; 
200,  300  of  them  ;  hecatombs,  and  triple  hecatombs  ; 
any  young  doctor  can  get  leave  to  cut  them  up. 


Certificates   E  and   EE 

For  all  inoculations -and  similar  proceedings.  Certifi- 
cate A  is  necessary.  For  all  experiments  where  the 
animal  is  allowed  to  recover  from  the  anaesthetic. 
Certificate  B  is  necessary.  But  these  certificates  do 
not  extend  to  the  dog,  the  cat,  the  horse,  the  mule, 
or  the  ass.  The  three  latter  animals  are  also  scheduled 
under  Certificate  F ;  the  dog  and  the  cat  under 
Certificates  E  and  EE.  That  is  to  say,  to  inoculate 
a  dog,  e.g.  for  the  study  of  the  preventive  treatment 
against  distemper,  it  is  necessary  to  hold  a  License, 
plus  Certificate  A,  plus  Certificate  E  ;  to  operate  on 
a  dog,  and  let  him  recover,  it  is  necessary  to  hold  a 
License,  plus  Certificate  B,  plus  Certificate  EE. 

And  it  is  certain  that  the  Home  Office  does  enforce 
and  emphasise  here  the  spirit  of  the  Act ;  and  that 
it  does  guard  and  restrict  and  tie  up  Certificate  EE 
with   its  own   hands. 

Now  let  us  take  an  instance,  which  shows  in  a 
very  unfavourable  light  the  methods  of  the  National 
Canine  Defence  League.  Three  years  ago,  certain 
experiments  were  made  on  dogs,  for  the  purpose  of 
finding  the  best  way  of  resuscitating  persons  apparently 
drowned.  The  Home  Secretary  was  asked  whether  he 
knew  that  certain  of  these  experiments  were  to  be  made 
without  anaesthetics  ;  and  he  answered,  ^'  In  view  of 
the  great  importance  of  the  subject  in  connection  with 


362  EXPERIMENTS   ON   ANIMALS 

the  saving  of  human  life,  and  of  the  strong  recommenda- 
tions received  in  support  of  the  experiments,  I  have  not 
felt  justified  in  disallowing  the  certificates." 

A  great  outcry  was  raised  against  these  experi- 
ments by  the  National  Anti-vivisection  Society  and 
the  Canine  Defence  League.  The  National  Society,  in 
its  official  journal,  August  1903,  said  that  it  was  now 
proved,  "  that  in  England  to-day  experiments  are  per- 
formed without  anaesthetics  which  involve  inconceiv- 
able agony  to  dogs,  and  this  with  the  deliberate 
permission  of  the  Home  Secretary."  Mr.  Coleridge 
made  a  public  appeal  to  all  humane  societies,  to  go 
down  with  all  their  strength  into  Kent,  on  that  not 
far  distant  day  when  the  Home  Secretary  would  have 
to  face  his  constituents,  and  turn  him  out  of  Parlia- 
ment. The  Canine  Defence  League  sent  two  memorials 
to  the  Home  Office,  circulated  a  petition,  and  issued 
leaflets,  entitled  A  National  Scandal,  Scientific  Torture, 
A  Peep  behind  the  Scenes,  and  so  forth.  We  must 
consider  one  of  these  leaflets  at  some  length ;  but 
first  let  us  see  what  is  the  truth  about  these  ex- 
periments. They  were  made  by  the  Professor  of 
Physiology  at  Edinburgh  ;  and  he  has  kindly  written 
to  me  about  them.  In  every  experiment,  except  two, 
the  animal  was,  throughout  the  whole  experiment,  under 
complete  ancesthesia  with  chloroform  or  ether.  In  two 
cases,  and  in  two  only,  a  small  preliminary  operation, 
under  ancesthesia,  having  been  performed,  the  animal  was 
allowed  to  recover  from  the  ancesthetic,  or  almost  to  recover 
from  it,  and  was  then  and  there  submerged  and  drowned, 
at  once  and  completely,  to  death  ;  no  attempt  at  resuscita- 
tion was  made;  it  became  unconscious  in  a  little  more 
than  a  minute. 

In    the    face    of  these    facts,   what   is    to    be  said  of 


THE  CASE  AGAINST  ANTI-VIVISECTION     363 

the  outcry  raised  by  the  Canine  Defence  League  ? 
They  presented  two  memorials  to  the  Home  Secretary  : 
they  got  up  a  monster  petition  with  thousands  of 
signatures  ;    and    they   issued    the    following  leaflet : — 

SIGN   THE 
NATION'S  PETITION 

TO    PARLIAMENT   AGAINST   THE 

DISSECTION    OF    LIVE    DOGS 
In  Medical  Laboratories 

1.  Dogs,  on  account  of  their  docility  and  obedience 
to  the  word  of  command,  are  the  animals  chiefly  selected 
for  torture. 

2.  Thousands  of  dogs  are  tortured  yearly  by  licensed 
experimenters. 

3.  The  total  number  of  experiments  performed  in 
1902  was  14,906,  12,776  of  which  were  without 
anaesthetics. 

4.  The  Home  Secretary  stated  in  Parliament  on 
July  22nd,  1903,  that  neither  the  starving  of  animals 
to  death  nor  the  forced  over-feeding  of  animals  were 
included  in  these  returns. 

5.  Nor  does  the  number  14,906  give  the  number  of 
dogs  used,  for  each  experiment  may  include  any  number 
of  dogs — there  is  no  limit  fixed  by  law. 

6.  The  Home  Secretary  stated  in  Pariiament  on 
May  nth,  1903,  that  at  one  laboratory  alone  in 
London  232  dogs  were  used  for  vivisectional  experi- 
ments last  year. 

7.  There  are  now  laboratories  scattered  over  the 
whole  of  the  United  Kingdom. 

8.  The  Home  Secretary  stated  in  Parliament  on 
loth  July  1903,  that  one  dog  may  be  used  again  and 
again  for  vivisectional  experiment  or  demonstration — 
and  this  without  anaesthetics. 


364  EXPERIMENTS    ON    ANIMALS 

Think  of  the  condition  of  the  poor  dog  between  each 
living-dissection. 

Has  not  the  time  come  for  the  nation  to  rise  as  one 
man  and  say — 

"This  shall  not  be"? 

It  is  no  wonder  that  even  the  National  Anti-vivi- 
section Society,  in  a  letter  to  the  Times,  December 
iith,  1903,  denounced  this  leaflet.  The  wonder  is, 
that  Mr.  Pirkis,  R.N.,  the  chairman  of  the  Canine 
League,  tried  to  defend  it.  This  deplorable  leaflet,  said 
the  National  Society:  It  contains  a  series  of  grossly  false 
and  misleading  statements.  Let  us  take  it  paragraph  by 
paragraph.  The  first  two  paragraphs  are  grossly  false. 
The  third  suppresses  the  truth.  The  fourth  is  grossly 
false ;  the  Home  Secretary  said  that  neither  the  starv- 
ing of  animals  to  death  nor  the  forced  over-feeding  of 
animals  was  included  among  the  experiments  authorised 
or  performed.  Paragraph  five  is  grossly  false.  So  is 
paragraph  six  :  not  one  word  was  said  about  any  ex- 
periments, either  by  the  Home  Secretary  or  by  anybody 
else.  The  entire  number  of  all  dogs  and  cats  together, 
under  Certificates  A,  B,  E,  and  EE,  throughout  the 
whole  kingdom,  that  year,  was  344.  Paragraph  eight 
is  grossly  false. 


For  want  of  space,  it  is  impossible  to  consider  all  the 
special  arguments  of  the  anti-vivisection  societies.  Of 
course,  among  these  special  arguments,  there  are  a  few 
which  have  something  in  them.  How  could  they  all  of 
them  be  utterl}^  false  ?  They  go  back  over  thirty 
years  ;  they  are  drawn  from  all  parts  of  the  world.  This 
incessant  rummaging  of  medical  books  and  journals, 
British  and  foreign  ;   and  all  this  everlasting  espionage  ; 


THE  CASE  AGAINST  ANTI-VIVISECTION     365 

the  whole  elaborate  system  of  a  sort  of  secret  service — 
these  methods,  year  in  year  out,  are  bound  to  find,  now 
and  again,  a  fault  somewhere.  But  I  do  say,  having 
read  and  re-read  a  vast  quantity  of  the  publications  of 
these  societies,  that  they  are,  taken  as  a  whole,  a  stand- 
ing disgrace  to  the  cause  ;  that  they  are  tainted  through 
and  through  with  brutal  language,  imbecile  jokes,  and 
innumerable  falsehoods  ;  that  they  have  neither  the 
honesty,  nor  the  common  decency,  which  should  justify 
them.  Still,  here  it  is  that  the  money  goes.  There  is 
money  in  the  business ;  there  is  milk  in  the  cocoa-nut ;  and 
twopence  more,  and  up  goes  the  donkey.  These  are  the 
phrases  used,  by  the  National  Anti-vivisection  Society, 
of  the  bacteriologists,  and  the  men  who  are  working 
at  cancer.  But  these  societies,  that  spend  thousands 
every  year,  what  have  they  got  to  show  for  it  all  ? 
They  have,  with  much  else  of  the  same  kind,  the  Zoo- 
philist. Truly,  a  fine  result ;  a  high-class  official  journal, 
the  recognised  organ  of  the  anti-vivisection  movement  in 
England. 

Take,  for  a  final  instance,  one  or  two  of  the  things 
said  about  anaesthetics.  On  June  12th,  1897,  in  the 
Echo,  Mr.  Berdoe  said  that  certain  experiments,  involv- 
ing severe  operations,  had  been  made  on  dogs  under 
morphia  and  curare.  He  based  this  assertion  on  the 
account  of  the  experiments  in  the^  Journal  of  Physiology. 
On  June  i8th,  Mr.  Weir,  in  the  House  of  Commons, 
called  attention  to  this  assertion  ;  and  the  Home  Secre- 
tary promised  to  inquire  into  the  matter.  On  July  i8th, 
Mr.  Weir  asked  whether  this  inquiry  had  been  made  ; 
and  the  Home  Secretary  answered  : — 

"Yes,  I  have  made  full  inquiry  into  the  allegations  con- 
tained in  the  letter  and  statement  which  the  honourable 


366  EXPERIMENTS   ON    ANIMALS 

member  forwarded  to  me,  and  find  that  they  are  absolutely 
baseless.  The  experiments  referred  to  were  performed 
on  animals  under  full  chloroform  anaesthesia;  the  morphia, 
to  which  alone  allusion  was  made  in  the  published  account 
of  the  experiments,  being  used  in  addition.  Curare  was 
used,  but  not  as  an  anaesthetic." 

It  is  simple  enough.  The  gentlemen  who  made  the 
experiments  did  not  know  that  the  National  Society 
buys  and  ransacks  the  Journal  of  Physiology ;  or  did 
not  care.  But  the  National  Society  called  this  answer 
a  '*  Fruitless  Official  Denial " ;  and  Mr.  Coleridge  sent 
an  "explanatory  letter"  to  the  London  daily  papers, 
accusing  all  the  experimenters  of  "amending  their  pub- 
lished record  so  as  to  make  it  fit  in  with  the  Govern- 
ment report."  In  1899,  the  National  Society  published 
that  sentence,  which  has  already  been  quoted,  about  the 
Nine  Circles,  and  the  "  whiff  of  chloroform  possibly 
administered."  In  1900,  it  said,  "  The  chloroformists 
of  the  physiological  laboratories  are  doubtless  common 
porters,  with  no  technical  knowledge  of  their  work." 
In  1 90 1,  it  said,  "Our  readers  will  remember  that 
Mr.  Coleridge  has  had  more  than  one  battle  with  the 
Home  Office  on  the  question  of  complete  and  incom- 
plete anaesthesia.  We  need  hardly  say  that  the  victory 
on  each  occasion  rested  with  our  Honorary  Secretary." 
And  again,  "  By  many  turns  of  the  an ti- vivisection 
screw  we  have  at  last  extracted  (from  the  Home  Office) 
the  admission  that  pain  is  not  unknown  in  the  labora- 
tories." In  1902,  it  said,  "The  blessed  word  anaes- 
thesia warns  off  the  profane  anti-vivisectionist  who 
would  rob  the  altars  of  science  of  their  victims."  Take 
later  instances.  In  1903,  w^e  find  Mr.  Wood  saying 
that  ive  may  be  sure  the  narcosis  becomes  profound  ivhen 
the   inspectors   knock    at   the    door  of  the  laboratory ;    Dr. 


THE  CASE  AGAINST  ANTI-VIVISECTION    367 

Brand,  saying  that  in  all  experiments,  other  than  inocula- 
tions, it  is  probable  that  only  a  whiff  of  chloroform  is  given, 
to  satisfy  the  experimenters  conscience,  and  to  enable  him 
to  make  humane  statemoits  to  the  public ;  and  Mr.  Berdoe, 
saying  that  vivisectors,  where  they  use  anything  except  curare, 
employ  sham  ancesthetics. 

Beside  such  statements  as  these,  there  is  the  argu- 
ment from  the  very  rare  action  of  morphia  as  a  stimu- 
lant (see  British  Medical  Journal,  January  14th,  1899); 
but  this  argument  is  not  in  question.  The  real  argument 
is,  that  a  man  who  makes  experiments  on  animals  is 
likel}''  enough  to  tell  lies  about  them.  As  Mr.  Berdoe 
says,  of  a  very  explicit  statement  about  anaesthetics, 
made  b}^  the  late  Professor  Roy,  //  is  and  must  be 
absolutely  untrue.  Read  again  that  sentence  about  the 
"  whiff  of  chloroform."  The  phrase  is  thirty  years  old  ; 
but,  like  Sir  William  Fergusson's  evidence  in  1875,  it 
is  still  in  use.  Or  take  that  one  phrase — ivhere  they  use 
anything  but  curare.  It  affords,  in  six  words,  a  perfect 
instance  of  the  anti-vivisectionist  at  his  worst. 


W.    "  Our  Cause   in   Parliament  " 

Under  this  heading  the  official  journal  of  the  National 
Society  reports  questions  asked  in  Parliament,  and  the 
answers  given  to  them.  This  aspect  of  the  work  of  the 
anti-vivisection  societies,  and  the  part  taken  b}'  them 
in  elections,  and  their  plans  to  amend  or  abolish  the  Act, 
must  be  noted  here. 

In  one  year,  the  National  Society  spent  ;^888,  13s.  2d. 
on  "  purely  electoral  work."      That  is  a  very  large  sum, 
when  we  think   of  tJie  grave  injury  done  to   the  cause  of 
mercy   by  the  deplorable  waste  of  money  spent  in  perfectly 


368  EXPERIMENTS   ON   ANIMALS 

unnecessary  offices  and  salaries.  The  Society's  journal 
tells  us  something  of  this  electoral  work : — 

1899. — "The    Parliamentary  League    has  again   been 

successful  in  its  work  at  bye-elections.     At the  two 

candidates  were  approached,  and  both  gave  more  or  less 

satisfactory  answers.      Sir  's  reply  was  thought  to 

be  the  more  satisfactory  one,  and  consequently  our 
supporters  gave  him  their  votes.  As  our  readers  are 
aware,  he  was  returned."  (In  a  later  number,  the 
Zoophilist  hints  that  "  further  pressure  "  may  be  applied 
to  this  gentleman  in  Parliament.) 

1900. — "The  efforts  of  the  Society  will  not  be  con- 
fined to  forwarding  the  interests  of  any  one  candidate 
or  any  one  party.  As  soon  as  the  names  of  candidates 
were  announced,  Mr.  Coleridge  issued  to  all  of  them  a 
circular  letter  demanding  their  views  on  the  vivisection 
question.  The  numerous  replies  which  have  already 
arrived,  and  are  still  arriving,  afford  results  more  gratify- 
ing than  we  for  a  moment  anticipated,  and  show  clearly 
that  we  are  now  recognised  throughout  Great  Britain 
to  be  a  power  that  cannot  be  ignored.  .  .  .  Volunteer 
workers  are  also  being  despatched  from  headquarters  to 
various  places.  Readers  who  have  votes  or  who  will 
help  in  any  way  are  invited  to  communicate  immediately 
to  the  head  office,  when  information  about  the  views  of 
their  candidates  will  be  at  once  sent  to  them." 

The  London  Society  also,  like  the  National  Society, 
desires  to  have  a  representative  in  Parliament  ;  and 
this  desire  is  stated  in  emphatic  words  in  one  of  its 
reports.  The  general  tone  of  that  report  has  already 
been  noted.  It  loves  big  black  headlines,  No  Sur- 
render, The  Awakening  Churches,  A  Truculent 
Science,  The  Sinews  of  War,  The  Appeal  to  the 
People..  They  had  better  ensure  the  return  of  that 
opponent  of  vaccination  who  says  that  you  can  bring 
any  member  of  Parliament  to  your  knees. 


THE  CASE  AGAINST  ANTI-VIVISECTION    369 

And,  of  course,  these  societies  follow  the  successful 
candidates  on  their  subsequent  careers.  "  In  Parlia- 
ment," says  the  London  Society,  ^'  the  Society's  work 
is  carried  on  as  occasion  permits.  Members  of  Parlia- 
ment are  written  to  or  are  personally  seen  at  the  House 
of  Commons.  Questions  are  drafted  for  them  to 
submit  to  the  Home  Secretary,  and  one  or  more 
officers  of  the  Society  are  in  constant  attendance  at 
the  House  of  Commons  when  the  question  of  vivi- 
section is  likely  to  be  raised."  And  the  National 
Society  says,  "  In  order  to  stimulate  attention  (to  Mr. 
Coleridge's  Bill)  our  lecturer  has  been  assiduous  in 
his  attendance  in  the  lobby  of  the  House  during  the 
present  session,  and  by  personal  interviews  has  been 
able  to  arouse  a  good  deal  of  interest  in  it  on  both 
sides  of  the  House."  It  is  evident  that  ''  Our  Cause 
in  Parliament "  is  urged  with  diligence,  and  is  not  left 
to  stand  or  fall  according  to  the  unsolicited  conscience 
of  what  the  London  Society  calls  the  average  lay 
member.  Take,  for  example,  the  system  of  drafting 
questions  to  be  put  to  the  Home  Secretary.  It  may 
or  may  not  take  off  the  edge  of  sincerity  ;  anyhow, 
the  question  should  be  drafted  with  great  care.  On 
February  26th,  1900,  a  question  was  asked  as  to 
certain  observations  which  were  alleged  to  have  been 
made  on  Hving  animals,  but  in  fact  had  been  made  on 
their  organs  removed  after  death.  The  National 
Society  said   of  this   mistake : — 

"We  wish  our  readers  to  know  that  the  question  was 
not  prompted  by  any  communication  from  our  Society, 
and  we  think  it  unfortunate  that  members  of  Parliament 
should  be  asked  to  put  questions  in  the  House  by  persons 
who  do  not  realise  that  questions  based  on  inaccurate 
premises  can  do  nothing  but  harm  to  our  cause.     It  is 

2  A 


S70  EXPERIMENTS    ON    ANIMALS 

hard  that  the  whole  anti-vivisection  movement  should 
suffer  through  the  carelessness  and  indolence  of  those 
who  will  neither  be  at  the  pains  to  avoid  inaccuracy  by 
their  own  study  and  investigation,  nor  by  consulting  the 
National  Societ3^'s  officers." 

These  careless,  indolent,  inaccurate  persons,  who 
think  so  lightly  of  the  National  Society's  officers,  and 
dra:t  a  question  so  sill}"  that  the  whole  cause  is  damaged, 
bring  us  back  to  the  point  whence  we  started  :  the  want 
of  unit}"  between  the  societies,  the  frequent  jarring  of 
one  with  another.  We  have  still  to  see  something  of 
the  dealings  of  the  National  Society  with  Government. 
It  is  at  its  best,  doubtless,  in  the  formal  letters  from 
Mr.  Coleridge  to  the  Home  Office  ;  but  these,  after  all, 
are  his  own  work,  and  the  Society  cannot  take  the 
credit  of  them.  Per  contra,  we  may  credit  to  the 
Society,  and  not  to  Mr.  Coleridge,  certain  threats  to 
Ministers  in  1898  : — 

.  .  .  ''  Should  we  be  so  unfortunate  as  to  be  left  by 
you  without  such  an  open  assurance,  we  shall  feel  it  our 
dut}^  to  employ  the  strength  and  resources  of  this  Society 
in  an  endeavour  to  prevent  3'our  return  to  Parliament  at 
the  next  election.  We  know  of  a  large  and  increasing 
number  of  your  constituents  who  are  ready,  in  the  un- 
fortunate event  of  your  being  unable  to  reassure  them  as 
to  your  attitude  in  the  matter  of  endowing  torture,  to 
place  humanity  above  party  politics." 

.  .  .  "This  Society  will  feel  it  to  be  its  duty  to  use 
every  means  in  its  power  to  prevent  your  return  to 
Parliament  at  the  next  election." 

..."  We  beg  leave  to  inform  you  that  at  the  next 
election  the  forces  of  this  Society  will  be  used  with  the 
utmost  vigour  to  prevent  your  return  to  Parliament.  We 
know  of  many,  and  shall  no  doubt  soon  secure  more  of 
your  constituents,  pledged  to  place  humanity  above  party 


THE  CASE  AGAINST  ANTI-VIVISECTION    371 

and  vote  against  you  on  the  next  occasion  that  you  pre- 
sent yourself." 

What  are  we  to  think  of  these  three  letters  ?  The 
resources  of  the  Society,  given  with  some  vague  hope 
of  keeping  animals  out  of  pain,  are  to  be  used  for  keep- 
ing Ministers  out  of  Parliament.  Note  the  bullying 
tone  of  the  letters.  It  is  the  same  thing,  two  years 
later,  at  the  General  Election,  with  the  heckling  of 
candidates :  We  are  now  recognised  throughout  Great 
Britain  to  be  a  power  that  cannot  be  ignored.  A  Society 
that  bullies  Ministers  of  State,  what  will  it  not  do  to 
the  average  lay  member  ? 

V.   A   Historical   Parallel 

It  is  a  long  way,  from  the  plain  duty  to  take  care  of 
animals,  to  the  arguments  and  general  behaviour  of 
these  societies.  Of  course,  we  have  seen  them  here 
from  the  most  unfavourable  point  of  view.  From  that 
point  of  view,  apart  from  any  more  favourable  aspect, 
they  have  their  parallel  in  history.  The  two  instances 
are,  in  some  wa^^s,  very  unlike  :  but  the  parallelism  is 
worthy  of  note.  The  historical  instance  is  more  than 
fifty  years  old:  we  have  what  was  said,  in  185 1, 
against  his  worst  opponents,  by  a  man  who  had  an 
unpopular  cause  to  defend.  Newman,  in  185  i,  gave  a 
set  of  lectures  on  The  Present  Position  of  Catholics  in 
England :  and  his  sayings,  some  of  them,  seem  apt  to 
our  present  subject.  Take  the  following  examples. 
Only,  here  and  there,  a  w^ord  is  altered,  or  a  phrase 
left  out,  that  all  offence  may  be  avoided  : — 

.  .  .  "We  should  have  cause  to  congratulate  our- 
selves, though  we  were  able  to  proceed  no  further  than 
to  persuade  our  opponents  to  argue  out  one  point  before 


372  EXPERIMENTS   ON   ANIMALS 

going  on  to  another.  It  would  be  much  even  to  get  them 
to  give  up  what  they  could  not  defend,  and  to  promise 
that  they  would  not  return  to  it.  It  would  be  much  to 
succeed  in  hindering  them  from  making  a  great  deal  of 
an  objection  till  it  is  refuted,  and  then  suddenly  con- 
sidering it  so  small  that  it  is  not  worth  withdrawing. 
It  would  be  much  to  hinder  them  from  eluding  a  defeat 
on  one  point  by  digressing  upon  three  or  four  others, 
and  then  presently  running  back  to  the  first,  and  then  to 
and  fro,  to  second,  third,  and  fourth,  and  treating  each  in 
turn  as  if  quite  a  fresh  subject  on  which  not  a  word  had 
yet  been  said." 

..."  No  evidence  against  us  is  too  little  :  no  infliction 
too  great.  Statement  without  proof,  though  inadmissible 
in  every  other  case,  is  all  fair  when  we  are  concerned. 
An  opponent  is  at  liberty  to  bring  a  charge  against  us, 
and  challenge  us  to  refute,  not  any  proof  he  brings,  for 
he  brings  none,  but  his  simple  assumption  or  assertion. 
And  perhaps  we  accept  his  challenge,  and  then  we  find 
we  have  to  deal  with  matters  so  vague  or  so  minute,  so 
general  or  so  particular,  that  we  are  at  our  wits'  end  to 
know  how  to  grapple  with  them." 

..."  For  myself,  I  never  should  have  been  surprised, 
if,  in  the  course  of  the  last  nine  months  of  persecution, 
some  scandal  in  this  or  that  part  of  our  cause  had  been 
brought  to  light  and  circulated  through  the  country  to 
our  great  prejudice.  No  such  calamity  has  occurred: 
but  oh  !  what  would  not  our  enemies  have  paid  for  only 
one  real  and  live  sin  to  mock  us  withal.  Their  fierce  and 
unblushing  eff'ort  to  fix  such  charges  where  they  were 
impossible,  shows  how  many  eyes  were  fastened  on  us 
all  over  the  country,  and  how  deep  and  fervent  was  the 
aspiration  that  some  among  us  might  turn  out  to  be  a 
brute  or  a  villain." 

..."  We  are  dressed  up  like  a  scarecrow  to  gratify, 
on  a  large  scale,  the  passions  of  curiosity,  fright,  and 
hatred.  Something  or  other  men  must  fear,  men  must 
loathe,  men  must  suspect,  even  if  it  be  to  turn  away 
their  minds  from   their  own   inward  miseries.    ...    A 


THE  CASE  AGAINST  ANTI-VIVISECTION    373 

calumny  against  us  first  appeared  in  1836,  it  still  thrives 
and  flourishes  in  185 1.  I  have  made  inquiries,  and  I 
am  told  I  may  safely  say  that  in  the  course  of  the  fifteen 
years  that  it  has  lasted,  from  200,000  to  250,000  copies 
have  been  put  into  circulation  in  America  and  England. 
A  vast  number  of  copies  has  been  sold  at  a  cheap  rate, 
and  given  away  by  persons  v^ho  ought  to  have  known 
that  it  was  a  mere  fiction.  I  hear  rumours  concerning 
some  of  the  distributors,  which,  from  the  respect  which 
I  wish  to  entertain  towards  their  names,  I  do  not  know 
how  to  credit." 

.  .  .  "The  perpetual  talk  against  us  does  not  become 
truer  because  it  is  incessant ;  but  it  continually  deepens 
the  impression,  in  the  minds  of  those  who  hear  it,  that 
we  are  impostors.  There  is  no  increase  of  logical 
cogency ;  a  lie  is  a  lie  just  as  much  the  tenth  time  it 
is  told  as  the  first ;  or  rather  more,  it  is  ten  lies  instead 
of  one ;  but  it  gains  in  rhetorical  influence.  .  .  .  Thus 
the  meetings  and  preachings  which  are  ever  going  on 
against  us  on  all  sides,  though  they  may  have  no 
argumentative  force  whatever,  are  still  immense  factories 
for  the  creation  of  prejudice." 

.  .  .  "  The  Prejudiced  Man  takes  it  for  granted  that 
we,  who  differ  from  him,  are  universally  impostors, 
tyrants,  hypocrites,  cowards,  and  slaves.  If  he  meets 
with  any  story  against  us,  on  any  or  no  authority,  which 
does  but  fall  in  with  this  notion  of  us,  he  eagerly  catches 
at  it.  Authority  goes  for  nothing;  likelihood,  as  he 
considers  it,  does  instead  of  testimony;  what  he  is  now 
told  is  just  what  he  expected.  Perhaps  it  is  a  random 
report,  put  into  circulation  merely  because  it  had  a 
chance  of  succeeding,  or  thrown  like  a  straw  to  the 
wind ;  perhaps  it  is  a  mere  publisher's  speculation,  who 
thinks  that  a  narrative  of  horrors  will  pay  well  for  the 
printing  :  it  matters  not,  he  is  equally  convinced  of  its 
truth  :  he  knows  all  about  it  beforehand  ;  it  is  just  what 
he  alwa3's  has  said ;  it  is  the  old  tale  over  again  a 
hundred  times.  Accordingly  he  buys  it  by  the  thousand, 
and  sends  it  about  with  all  speed  in  every  direction,  to 


374  EXPERIMENTS    ON    ANIMALS 

his  circle  of  friends  and  acquaintance,  to  the  newspapers, 
to  the  great  speakers  at  public  meetings.  .  .  .  Next 
comes  an  absolute,  explicit,  total  denial  or  refutation  of 
the  precious  calumny,  whatever  it  may  be,  on  unimpeach- 
able authority.  The  Prejudiced  Man  simpl}^  discredits 
this  denial,  and  puts  it  aside,  not  receiving  any  impres- 
sion from  it  at  all,  or  paying  it  the  slightest  attention. 
This,  if  he  can :  if  he  cannot,  if  it  is  urged  upon  him 
by  some  friend,  or  brought  up  against  him  by  some 
opponent,  he  draws  himself  up,  looks  sternly  at  the 
objector,  and  then  says  the  very  same  thing  as  before, 
only  with  a  louder  voice  and  more  confident  manner. 
He  becomes  more  intensely  and  enthusiastically  positive, 
b}^  way  of  making  up  for  the  interruption,  of  braving 
the  confutation,  and  of  showing  the  world  that  nothing 
whatever  in  the  universe  will  ever  make  him  think  one 
hair-breadth  more  favourably  than  he  does  think,  than 
he  ever  has  thought,  and  than  his  family  ever  thought 
before  him.  About  our  state  of  mind,  our  views  of 
things,  our  ends  and  objects,  our  doctrines,  our  defence 
of  them,  he  absolutely  refuses  to  be  enlightened.  .  .  . 
The  most  overwhelming  refutations  of  the  calumnies 
brought  against  us  do  us  no  good  at  all.  We  were 
tempted,  perhaps,  to  say  to  ourselves,  '  What  will  they 
have  to  say  in  answer  to  this  ?  Now  at  last  the  false- 
hood is  put  down  for  ever,  it  will  never  show  its  face 
again.'  Vain  hope!  Such  is  the  virtue  of  prejudice — it 
is  ever  reproductive  ;  future  stor^^-tellers  and  wonder- 
mongers,  as  yet  unknown  to  fame,  are  below  the  horizon, 
and  will  unfold  their  tale  of  horror,  each  in  his  day,  in 
long  succession." 

.  .  .  '*  Perhaps  it  is  wrong  to  compare  sin  with  sin,  but 
I  declare  to  you,  the  more  I  think  of  it,  the  more  intimately 
does  this  Prejudice  seem  to  me  to  corrupt  the  soul,  even 
beyond  those  sins  which  are  commonly  called  more  deadly. 
And  why  ?  because  it  argues  so  astonishing  a  w^ant  of 
mere  natural  charit}'-  or  love  of  our  kind.  They  can  be 
considerate  in  all  matters  of  this  life,  friendly  in  social 
intercourse,  charitable  to  the  poor  and  outcast,  merciful 


THE  CASE  AGAINST  AXTI-VIVISECTIOX    375 

towards  criminals,  nay,  kind  towards  the  inferior  creation, 
towards  their  cows,  and  horses,  and  swine  ;  yet,  as  re- 
gards us,  who  bear  the  same  form,  speak  the  same 
tongue,  breathe  the  same  air,  and  walk  the  same  streets, 
ruthless,  relentless,  believing  ill  of  us,  and  washing  to 
believe  it.  They  are  tenacious  of  what  they  believe,  they 
are  impatient  of  being  argued  with,  they  are  angry  at 
being  contradicted,  they  are  disappointed  when  a  point  is 
cleared  up  ;  they  had  rather  that  we  should  be  guilty  than 
they  mistaken  ;  the\'  have  no  wish  at  all  we  should  not  be 
unprincipled  rogues  and  bloodthirst}-  demons.  They  are 
kinder  even  to  their  dogs  and  their  cats  than  to  us.  Is 
it  not  true  ?  can  it  be  denied  ?  is  it  not  portentous  ?  does 
it  not  argue  an  incompleteness  or  hiatus  in  the  xery 
structure  of  their  moral  nature?  has  not  something,  in 
their  case,  dropped  out  of  the  list  of  natural  qualities 
proper  to  man  ?  " 


These  sentences,  many  of  them,  might  be  used  now 
to  describe  Anti-vivisection  at  its  lowest  level.  It  might 
keep  a  higher  level  :  but  we  have  seen  that  the  literature, 
arguments,  and  general  methods  of  the  Anti-vivisection 
Societies  fail  to  do  that.  The  Parliamentary  inter\newer, 
the  itinerant  lecturer,  and  the  letter-writer,  are  not,  after 
all,  of  much  help  to  any  cause  :  and  sureh'  it  is  time, 
after  all  this  waste  of  huge  sums  of  mone3%  that  a  Ro\^al 
Commission  should  inquire,  not  onh-  into  experiments 
on  animals,  but  also  into  Anti-vivisection. 


INDEX 


A 


A,  Certificate,  268,  286 
Abolitionist^  the,  302 
Absorbable  ligature,  the,  264 
Act  39  &  40  Vict.  c.   ']']^  i(il- 

293 

Actinomycosis,  246 

Adrenalin,  263 

Aga  Khan,  Sir,  179 

Air,  compressed,  71 

Algeria,  malaria  in,  230 

America,  diphtheria  in,  109  ; 
tetanus  in,  133,  135  ;  yellow 
fever  in,  232-240 

Amoy,  plague  in,  194 

Amyl  nitrite,  254;  false  argu- 
ment, 345 

Anaemia,  71  ;  pernicious,  263 

Anaesthesia,  grades  of,  357  ; 
false  statements,  366 

Anaesthetics,  discovery  and  study 
of,  55)  256 ;  use  under  the 
Act,  281 

Anderson,  Mr.,  190 

Andrews,  Staff-Surgeon,  263 

Anglo-Indians  and  Anglo- 
Africans,  228 

Animal  heat,  68 

Animals,  protective  inoculation 
of,  89-95, 1 13  5  action  of  drugs 
on, 255 

Annett,  Dr.,  223 

Anopheles  and  Culex,  214-242 

Anthrax,  76,  87-95 

Antiseptics,  78-86  ;  use  of  under 
the  Act,  285 


Antitoxins,  testing  of,  270  ;  false 
arguments  against,  338-342. 
See  also  Diphtheria,  Tetanus, 
«S:c. 

Anti-vivisection  Societies,  297 
sqq. ;  dissensions,  299-302  ; 
expenditure,  304-306,  334, 
367  ;  acceptance  of  all  advan- 
tages  from    past  discoveries, 

307  ;    attitude   toward    sport, 

308  ;  toward  doctors  and  hos- 
pitals, 310;  literature,  313- 
324 ;  method  of  espionage, 
327  ;  general  arguments,  326- 
334  ;  special  arguments,  335- 
367  ;  electoral  and  parliamen- 
tary tactics,  367-371 

Aphasia,  62 

Arguments,       anti  -  vivisection, 

326-367 
Aristotle,  3,  44,  243 
Arloing  and  Courmont,  100 
Artificial  respiration,  264 
Asellius,  19 
Assam-Burmah  railway,  cholera 

on,  162 
Athens,    Pasteur    Institute    at, 

143 
Aubertin,  62 


B 


B,  Certificate,  268,  349.  See 
also  Experiments 

Bacelli,  Prof.,  133 

Bacteriology,  'j'j  sqq.  ;  not  be- 
fore   the    1875    Commission, 


377 


378 


INDEX 


75  ;  the  foundation  of  Listers 
work,  85  ;  hardly  recognised 
in  the  wording  of  the  Act, 
267  ;  the  cause  of  more  than 
90  per  cent,  of  all  experi- 
ments, 292 ;  false  statements, 
316,  340 

Baginsky,  Prof,  105 

Bagshawe,  Bishop.  329 

Bainbridge,  Surgeon  -  General, 
169 

Baker,  Major,  172 

Bang,  Prof,  99 

Bannerman.    ^lajor.     173.     17;, 

Barbadoes,  filariasis  in,  240 
Barry.  Bishop,  343 
Battipaglia-Reggio  railway,  and 

malaria,  221 
Bazan,  Dr.,  42 
Beaumont,  Dr.  William,  28 
Behring,  Prof,  102 
Belchier,  'Sir.,  40 
Belgaum,  plague  at,  174 
Bell,  Sir  Charles.  46,  57,  65 
Bell,  Dr.,  88 

Belladonna,  action  of,  255 
van  Beneden.  244 
Berdoe.  Mr..  314  sag. 
Bernard,  Claude,  24,  30,  56,  248, 

254,  282 
Bernard  Shaw,  Mr.,  330 
Beveridge,  Surgeon,  263 
Beyrout,  experiments  at.  214 
Bezoar-stone,  the,  252 
Bichat.  253 

Bilaspur.  cholera  at,  164 
Bircher,  Dr.,  249 
Bird-malaria,  217,  218 
Birt,  Surgeon-Major,  212 
Bloemfontein,  typhoid  at,  203 
Blondlot,  29 
Blood,  circulation  of  the,  3-10 ; 

blood  -  pressure,     1 1-16,    70  : 

collateral  circulation,  13 
Blood-letting,    rational    use    of. 

264 
"  Blood-poisoning,"  84 


Board  of  Agriculture  labora- 
tories, 288 

Board  Hospitals,  diphtheria  in, 
116 

Boehmer,  42 

Bohn,  37 

Bollinger,  246 

Bombay,  plague  in,  170 

Bone,  growth  of,  40,  55  ;  trans- 
plantation of,  264 

Borelli,  25 

Borrel,  168 

Bouillard,  62 

Brain,  localisation  of  functions, 
59-67  ;  not  sensitive  to  touch, 
65,  285  ;  false  argument 
against  experiments  on,  336 ; 
surgery  of,  S37 

Brieger,  153 

Broca,  59 

Brown,  Captain  Harold,  162 

Brown-Sequard,  Prof.,  56 

Bruce,  Major,  211 

Brunton,  Sir  T.  Lauder,  on 
nitrite  of  amyl,  254 

Buchanan,  Major,  219 

Buenos  Ay  res,  plague  in,  194 

Buisson  bath,  the,  345 

Buisson,  Dr.,  347 

Burrows,  Mr.  Herbert,  329 

Busk.  Prof,  244 

Byculla  jail,  plague  in,  170 


C,  Certificate,  284 

Cabot,  Dr.,  210 

Cachar  tea-gardens,  cholera  in, 

Cachexia  strumipriva,  247,  249 

Cassalpinus,  4,  6 

Caisson  disease,  71 

Calcutta,    cholera    inoculations 

in,  156 
Calmette,    on   plague,   16S  ;  on 

snake  venom,  259 
Calverley,  Dr.,  202 


INDEX 


379 


Cancer,  recent  experiments  on, 
288  ;  mice  immunised  against, 
263;  cancer  of  thyroid  gland, 

344 

Cancer  Research  Fund,  288 

Capillaries,  discovery  of  the,  10 

Cappel,  Mr.  E.  K.,  181 

Carbolic  acid,  338 

Cardiograph,  the,  17 

Cardwell,  Lord,  267 

Carle  and  Rattone,  128 

Carrion,  Daniel,  death  of, -257 

Cayley,  Surgeon-Colonel,  203 

Celsus,  77 

Cerebellum,  46 

Cerebral  localisation,  64-67  ; 
false  argument,  336 

Chamberland,  Dr.,  90 

Chantemesse,  on  Widal's  re- 
action, 210 

Charbon,  86-90 ;  inoculations 
against,  90-93 

Charles  II.,  treatment  of  his 
case,  251 

Chauveau,  97 

Chenai,  Dr.,  189 

Chicago,  diphtheria  in,  109 ; 
tetanus  in,  135 

Childe,  Prof.,  183 

Children,  malaria  in  native,  225 

Choke-damp,  70 

Cholera,  study  of,  152  ;  Haff- 
kine's  fluid,  153;  results  ob- 
tained in  India,  154-166;  in 
Japan,  167  ;  bacteriology  and 
quarantine,  167 

Church  Anti-vivisection  League, 


298, 


^01 


Clinical  Society,  report  on  diph- 
theria, III;  on  myxoedema, 
248 

Cobbold,  Prof.,  244 

Cocain,  269 

Cohnheim  on  inflammation,  78  ; 
on  tubercle,  97 

Coleridge,  Mr.,  300  sqq. 

Commission  on  experiments  on 
animals  (1875),  7^,  267,  298  ; 


plague  Commission  (India), 
170;  Commissions  on  mal- 
aria, 218;  on  yellow  fever, 
232  ;  on  tuberculosis,  288 

Committee  on  rabies,  142;  on 
myxoedema,  248 

Compensatory  action  of  heart,  69 

Congress  on  tuberculosis,  98, 
99  ;  International  Medical 
(London),  253,  321 

Cooper,  Sir  Astley,  248 

Corthorn,  Dr.,  190 

County  Council  laboratories,  287 

Cretinism,  sporadic,  treatment 
with  thyroid  extract,  250 

Crile,  Dr.,  358 

Cuba,  yellow  fever  in,  237-240 

Culex  and  Anopheles,  214-242 

Cumine,  Mr.  A.,  170 

Cunninghame-Graham,   Mr.   R. 

B.,  330 
Curare,    action    of,    282,    353  ; 

provision    of    the    Act,    274 ; 

facts  as  to  its  use,  356  ;  false 

argument,  355 
Curzon,  Lord,  169,  195 
Cyprus,  typhoid  in,  206 


D 


Daman,  plague  in,  171 

Dark  Deeds ^  3 1 3 

Darwin,  evidence  before  the  1875 
Commission,  68 

Davaine  on  anthrax,  88  ;  on  en- 
tozoa,  244 

Dax,  62 

"Dead"  vaccines,  197 

Death-rate  argument,  the,  339 

Deaths  froni  experiment  on  self, 
257 

Deelfontein,  typhoid  in,  208 

Diabetes,  30-35  ;  pancreatic  dia- 
betes, 39 

Diapedesis  in  inflammation,  78 

Digestion,  24-29  ;  Pawlow's  ex- 
periments, 70 


38o 


INDEX 


Digitalis,  study  of,  253  ;  false 
argument,  345 

Diphtheria,  102-127  ;  discovery 
of  its  antitoxin,  103 ;  early 
results  and  reports,  103-116; 
results  at  the  Board  Hospitals, 
116-123;  Siegert's  tables,  123; 
Woodhead's  1901  report,  124; 
MacCombie's  tables,  126;  pre- 
ventive use  of  the  antitoxin, 
105-106  ;  tracheotomy  statis- 
tics, 104-126;  false  statements 
and  arguments,  310,  316,  338, 
339-342 

Distemper,  inoculation  against, 
289 

Drafting  of  questions  to  be  put 
to  the  Home  Secretary',  369 

Drowning,  experiments  on 
death  by,  361 

Drugs,  action  of,  251-258  ;  lin- 
gering influence  of  magic,  251; 
revolutionary  work  of  Magen- 
die  and  Claude  Bernard,  252  ; 
discovery  of  selective  action, 
253  ;  effects  of  drugs  on  ani- 
mals, 255 

Duboue,  Dr.,  138 

Dundee,    tetanus    in    mills    in, 

134 
Durbhanga  jail,  cholera  in,  162 
Durham,  Dr.,  on  Widal's  reac- 
tion, 210 ;  on  yellow  fever,  235 
Dyson,  Major,  166 


E  and  EE,  Certificates,  284-286, 
361 

Eberle,  38 

Edinburgh  Hospital,  South 
Africa,  typhoid  in,  205 

von  Eisselsberg,  249 

Egypt,  typhoid  in,  199,  206 

"Electoral  Work"  of  anti-vivi- 
section societies,  299,  367 

Electricity  in  medicine,  264 


Elephantiasis,  240 

Ehmination  of  infection  (mal- 
aria), 223 

Elliot,  Dr.  Andrew,  208 

England,  variability  of  diph- 
theria in,  105 

Equilibration,  56 

Erasistratus,  3 

Erichsen,  Sir  John,  78,  267 

Excision  of  wound  in  tetanus, 
136 

Experiments  on  self,  152,  153, 
169,  220,  222,  233,  257 

Experiments  during  1905,  report 
to  Government  on,  283-293 

Experiments  without  anaesthe- 
tics, 268-271,  286,  292,  352; 
false  statements,  322,  352,  363 

Experiments  under  Certificate 
B,  or  B  -f  EE,  or  B  -h  F, 
285  ;  prohibition  oi  subsequent 
infliction  of  pain,  286,  352  ; 
these  experiments  less  than  3 
per  cent,  of  all  experiments, 
285  ;  inoculation-experiments 
about  ()c^percent.  of  all  experi- 
ments, 286 


F,  Certificate,  284 

Fabricius,  5 

Fayrer,  Sir  Joseph,  259 

Fenwick,  Dr.  W.  S.,  86 

Ferran,  Dr.,  153 

Ferrier's  work  in  cerebral  loca- 
lisation, 63 

Filariasis,  240  ;  Dr.  Low's  report 
on,  241 

Finlay's  work  on  yellow  fever, 
232 

Fischer,  153 

Fistula,  artificial,  28,  29,  70 

Fleas  and  plague,  332 

Flourens,  55 

Forman,  Major,  evidence  before 
Plague  Commission,  176 

Forster,  Mr.  W.  E.,  267 


INDEX 


381 


Foster,  Sir  Michael,  58,  66 

Foulerton,  Mr.  A.,  210 

Fox,  Dr.,  250 

France,    Pasteur    Institutes   in, 

150 
Frascatorius,  6,  96 
Fraser,  Prof.,  170,  253,  259 
French  army,  diphtheria  in  the, 

Fritsch  and  Hitzig  on  cerebral 
localisation,  65 


Gabritchefski,  Dr.,  105 

Gaft'ky,  Dr.,  196 

Galen,  experiment  on  the  ar- 
teries, 3  :  quoted  by  Asellius, 
19;  experiments  on  the  ner- 
vous system,  44 

Gall  and  phrenolog)',  60 

Gamaleia,  153 

Gamgee,  Dr.  A.,  experiments  on 
amyl  nitrite,  254 

Gastric  juice.  24-39 

Gaya  jail,  cholera  in,  160 

Germany,  diphtheria  in,  105 

Glycogen,  30-35 

Gmelin,  27 

Goldsmiths'"  Company,  the,  117 

Gorgas,  Major,  on  yellow  fever, 

Gowers,  Sir  William,  63 
Graaf,  Regnier  de,  36 
Graham,  Dr.,  214 
Grassi,    Prof.,    experiments    on 

malaria,  221,  257 
Greece,  rabies  in,  143 
Gull,    Sir    William,   on    myxce- 

dema,  247 


H 


Hadwen,  Dr.,  323 

Haffkine,  work  on  cholera,  153  : 

on  plague,   168;  experiments 

on  self,  257 


Haigh,  Rev.  H.,  184 

Haldane,  Dr.,  on  respiration, 
70 

Hales,  on  blood-pressure,  1 1 

Haller,  82 

Hallifax,  Mr.  C.  J.,  170 

Hamburg,  cholera  at,  152 

du  Hamel,  on  growth  of  bone, 
40 

Hamer,  Dr.,  88 

Hankin,  Dr.,  153 

Harley,  Dr.,  on  pancreatic  dia- 
betes, 39 

Har\'ey,  William,  5-9,  20,  335 

Harvey,  Director  General, 
I. M.S.,  169,  171,  191 

Hatch,  Lieui.-Col.,  169 

Havana,  yellow  fever  in,  238 

Havers,  40 

Head,  Dr.,  work  on  the  ner%ous 
system,  70 

Hebra,  82 

Hewett,  Mr.  J.  P.,  170 

Hewlett,  Prof,  102,  238 

Hill,  Dr.  Leonard,  71 

Hippocrates,  243 

Historical  parallel,  371 

Hitzig,  work  on  cerebral  locali- 
sation, 64 

Hobday,  Prof.,  281 

Hollander,  Dr.,  336 

Horses  immunised  against  teta- 
nus, 133 

Horsley,  Sir  Victor,  315  ;  on 
Galen,  44  ;  on  cerebral  locali- 
sation, 65  ;  his  work  on  myx- 
oedema,  248,  249 

Houston's  estimate,  128 

Hubli,  plague  in,  181 

Hughlings  Jackson,  Dr.,  63 

Hunter,  John,  7,  13,  257 

Hunter,  Dr.  William,  on  per- 
nicious anaemia,  263 

Hutton,  Mr.,  267 

Huxley,  Prof.,  267,  298 

Hydatid  disease,  245 

Hypodermic  use  of  drugs, 
264 


382 


INDEX 


I 


Iceland,  echinococcus  in,  245 

Immunised  horses,  not  in  pain, 
270 

Imperial  Yeomanr)^  Hospital, 
typhoid  in,  207 

India,  cholera  in,  155:  plague 
in,  168  :  typhoid  in,  198  ; 
malaria  in,  216 

India  Office,  experiments  made 
for,  28S 

Inflammation,  study  of,  77-79 

Ingersoll,  Col.,  329 

Inoculations,  scheduled  under 
Certificate  A,  269  ;  about  95 
per  cent  of  all  experiments. 
292,  325 ;  presence  or  absence 
of  pain,  270,  287  ;  made 
by  Government  and  public 
bodies,  288,  292  ;  false  argu- 
ments  and   statements,    338. 

Internal  secretion,  34,  39,  250 
Irregularities  under  the  Act,  2SS 
Israel,  Prof,  246 
Italy,  malaria  in,  218  sgq. 


J 


Jains,  the,  168 

Japan,  cholera  in,  167 

Jesse,  Mr.,  298 

Jewish     communit}'     at    Aden, 

plague  among,  192 
Jute  mills,  tetanus  in,  134 

K 

Kanthack,     Prof,    on    tetanus, 

130  ;  on  snake  venom,  259 
Karman,  Dr.,  104 
Karslake,  Sir  John,  267 
Keelan,  Lieut.,  on  plague,  187 
Keeping  do\\-n  of  the  mosquito, 

229,  242 
Kent  County  Lunatic  Asylum, 
typhoid  at,  197 


Khartoum  Expedition,  typhoid 

on,  197 
Khoja       community,       plague 

among,  179 
Kirki,  plague  at,  172 
Kitasato,   Prof,   on  diphtheria, 

102  ;  on  plague,  168 
Klebs,  Prof.,  on  diphtheria,  102  ; 

on  t}'phoid,  196 
Klebs-Loeffler     bacillus,      the, 

102  sgq. 
Klein,    Prof,   on   anthrax,    76 ; 

on  cholera,  153  :  expenment 

on  self,  257 
Koch,  Prof,  on  anthrax,  88  ;  on 

tubercle,  97,  98  ;  on  cholera, 

152:    on    typhoid,    196;    on 

elimination        of       infection 

(malaria),     223 :     experiment 

on  self,  257 
Koch's  postulates,  76 
Kocher,    Prof,  on  myxcedema, 

247,  249 
Krokiewicz,  133 
Kronlein,  104 

Kroonstadt,  typhoid  in,  203 
Kuchenmeister  on  entozoa,  244 


Lacteals,  the,  19-23 
Labbe's  proteosoma,  217 
Laboratories,  not  dangerous  to 

public   health,    258  :   used  in 

Government      service,      288  ; 

inspected  and  approved,  288 
Ladysmith,  typhoid  in,  201 
Laennec,  on  tubercle,  96 
Lagos,  malaria  in,  224,  228 
Lamb,  Surg.-Capt.,  212 
Lambert,  Dr.,  on  tetanus,  132 
Lanauli,  plague  at.  172 
Lapis  Goo;,  given  to  Charles  II., 

252 
Lar\-ngeal  diphtheria,   114,   120 

sqq. 
Laveran,  on  malaria,  216 


INDEX 


383 


Lazear,  Dr.,  death  from  yellow 

fever,  235 
Leblanc,  on  risk  of  rabies,  142 
Leffingwell,  Dr.,  on  history  of 

anti-vivisection,  297 
Lefroy,  Mr.,  241 

Legge,    Dr.,  on    industrial   an- 
thrax, 88 
Leuckart,  on  trichiniasis,  244 
Leumann,  Surg.-Capt.,  his  work 

in  Hubli,  181-189 
Licenses    under   the  Act,  275- 

277  ;  number  granted,  but  not 

used  last  year,  283 
Lister,  Lord,  his  account  of  his 

work,  78 
Literature,  anti-vivisection,  313- 

324 

Liverpool  School  of  Tropical 
Medicine,  218,  224 

Llangattock,  Lord,  309 

Localisation  in  central  nervous 
system,  54,  59767 

London  Anti-vivisection  So- 
ciety, 302,  323,  334 

London  School  of  Tropical 
Medicine,  220 

Loraine,  Rev.  Nevison,  327 

Low,  Dr.  G.  C,  on  malaria,  220  ; 
on  filariasis,  240 

Lucknow,  cholera  in,  158 

Lutaud,  Dr.,  317 

Lymphatic  system,  the,  23 

Lyons,  Major,  on  plague,  172 


M 


MacCallum,  216 

McFadyean,  Prof.,  on  tuber- 
culin, 100 

MacGarvie  Smith,  262 

MacGregor,  Sir  William,  on 
malaria,  224,  228 

Mackenzie,  Dr.  Hector,  on 
myxoedema,  250 

Mackenzie,  Dr.  James,  on  nerve 
distribution,  70 


MacNeill,  Mr.,  statements  in 
Parliament,  359 

Macrae,  Surg.-Major,  160 

Magendie,  on  the  nerve  roots, 
52  ;  on  selective  action  of 
drugs,  252 

Magic,  lingering  late  in  medi- 
cine, 251 

Mahratta  mills  and  railway, 
cholera  in,  188,  189 

Maidstone,  typhoid  at,  197,  212 

Malaria,  214-231,  242 

Malay  States,  malaria  in,  230 

Malpighi  on  the  capillaries,  10 

Malta  fever,  211  ;  possibly  milk- 
borne,  213 

Malta,  typhoid  in,  199 

Manometers,  11-18 

Manson,  Sir  Patrick,  128,  213, 
216,  227 

Mantegazza,  330 

Marey,  16 

Marsden,  Dr.,  on  typhoid,  200 

Marshall  Hall,  his  work  on 
reflex  action,  53 

Martin,  Prof.  Sidney,  on  diph- 
theria, 103  ;  on  tetanus,  130 

Meat,  infection  of,  99 

Medical  Briefs  the,  316,  338 

Medical  Journals,  the,  297 

"  Medical  Opinions  on  Vivisec- 
tion," 321 

Meerut,  typhoid  in,  205 

Meister,  Joseph,  Pasteur's  first 
case,  137 

von  Mering,  38 

Metchnikoff,  78,  153 

Mice  immunised  against  cancer, 
263,  288 

Microscope, before  bacteriology, 

11 
Milk,  infection  of,  98 
Ministers   of   State,   letters   to, 

370 
Minkowski,  38 
Monsall  Fever  Hospital,  typhoid 

in,  200 
Mora,  plague  in,  1 70 


384 


INDEX 


Morphia,  a  true  anaesthetic,  281  ; 

exceptional  action  of,  282 
Mosquito,  the,  214-242 
Mosquito  brigades,  230 
Mukerji,  Surg.,  166 
Miiller",  Dr.,  258 
Municipal  laboratories,  287 
Murray,   Dr.  George,  on  myx- 

cedema,  250 
Mursell,  Rev.  A.,  320 
Mutilations     by     farmers     and 

breeders,  293  ; 

Myers,  Dr.  Walter,  death  from   , 

yellow  fever,  236  I 

Myxoedema,      247-250 :      false 

argument,  344 

N  I 

Nagpur  jail,  malaria  in,  219 
National    Anti-vivisection     So- 
ciety, 299  sqq. 
National        Canine       Defence 

League,  306,  322,  360,  363 
National  Society  for  Prevention 

of  Cruelty  to  Animals,  304        ' 
Negative    results,   frequent,   of  ; 

inoculations,  287 
Negri.  Prof.,  137 
Nervous  system,  the,  44-67 
Netley      Hospital,     work      on 

typhoid,  196  ;  on  Malta  fever, 

212 
New  Guinea,  malaria  in,  225 
Newman,  Cardinal,  371 
Nhatrang,  plague  in,  194 
Nicolaier,  on  tetanus,  129 
Nigeria,  malaria  in,  225 
Nine  Circles^  the,  313 
Nocard,    Prof.,    on    tetanus    in 

horses,  133 
Nott,  Surg.-Capt.,  155 

O 

Official  experiments,  288 
Oliver,  Dr.,  88 
Oilier,  Prof.,  43 


One    experiment  =  one   animal, 

359 
Oporto,  plague  at,  168,  194 
Opsonic  index,  the,  loi 
Ord,  Dr.,  on  myxoedema,  247 
''  Our    Cause     in    Parliament," 

367 
"Our  Cause  in  the  Press,"  310, 

311.  360 
Owen,  Sir  Richard,  14 
Oxygen,  inhalation  of,  264 


Pacific  Islands,  filariasis  in  the, 

240 
Psediatric   Society  of  America, 

report     on      diphtheria-anti- 
toxin, 109 
Palemio,    Pasteur   Institute   at, 

144 
Pallas,  on  entozoa,  244 
Pancreas,   the,   36  ;    pancreatic 

diabetes,  39 
Paralyses    of    diphtheria,     114, 

116,  125 
Paralytic  rabies  of  rabbits,  146 
Parasitic  diseases,  243 
Parasitism,  215 
Pare,  Ambroise,  167,  252 
Paris,  diphtheria  in,  T07 
Parkinson,  Dr.,  86 
Parsee   community  at   Daman, 

plague  among,  171 
Pasteur,  his    influence    on  sur- 

ger}-,     79,      84  ;      work     on 

anthrax,  88  ;   on  rouget,  94  ; 

on  rabies,  137 
Pasteur     Institutes,      140-151  ; 

false  argument,  345-348 
Pathologv     and     bacteriology, 

75-86  ' 
Pavy,  Dr.,  on  diabetes,  35 
Pawlow,  Prof.,  on  digestion,  70 
Pecha,  Nurse,  258 
Pecquet,    Jehan,    discovery  ^of 

the  thoracic  duct,  21 


INDEX 


385 


Pt'diatrie,  Soci^te  de,  106 
Pernicious  anaemia,  263 
Peter,  Dr.,  141 
Pfeiffer,  Dr.,  153 
Phelps,  Lieut. -Gen.,  323 
Phrenology,  60,  33^ 
Phthisis,  96 
Physiology,  3-71,  267 
Pirkis,  Capt.,  R.N.,  346 
Plague,  168-195 
Poiseuille's  manometer,  15 
Pollender,  88 
Polli,  Prof.,  79 
Polyvalent  serum,  86 
Ponfick,  246 
Poore,    Dr.,   on    anthrax,    89  ; 

on  tetanus,  129 
Portland    Hospital,  typhoid  in, 

202 
Pottevin,  Dr.,  145 
Powell,  Dr.  Arthur,  165 
Prague,  tetanus  at,  134 
Prejudiced  Ma?i,  the,  373 
Preventive  use  of  antitoxin  in 

diphtheria,      104,      106  ;      in 

tetanus,  133-135 
Prochaska,  54 
Protection    against    Anopheles 

and  Culex,  227,  241 
Puerperal  fever,  79-84 
Pyaemia,  78 


Quarantine    and    bacteriology, 

167 
Quesada,  257 
Quinine,  action  of,  231 


R 


Rabies,  1 37-1 51  ;  tests  in  1905, 
288,  291  ;  false  argument,  345 
Rats  and  plague,  192,  332 
Realdus,  4 

Reaumur,  work  on  digestion,  25 
Redi,  on  entozoa,  244 


Reed,  on  yellow  fever,  239 

Reflex  action,  53 

Registered    places     under    the 
Act,  283 

Registrar-General,  the,  339 

Reinhardt,  Dr.,  355 

Rennie,  Dr.,  on   snake  venom, 
263 

Report     on     experiments      on 
animals,  283-293 

Respiration,  70 

Reverdin,  Prof.,  247 

Richardson,  Sir  Benjamin  Ward, 
254 

Richmond     Hospital,     Dublin, 
typhoid  in,  207 

Rio,  Pasteur  Institute  at,  144 

Roger,  on  anthrax,  88 

Rolland,  Gen.,  175 

Rolleston,  Dr.  Humphr>',  207 

Romanes,  66 

Ross,    Prof.    Ronald,   216,  228, 
I       242 
I   Rouget,  inoculation  against,  94 

Roux,  Prof.,  84,  89,  103,  138 
!  Royal  Society  for  Prevention  of 
!       Cruelty  to  Animals,  304 
:   Rudbeck,  23 

Ruffer,  Dr.,  170 
I   Rush  for  plague-serum  in   1899, 

j        ^93        . 

j   Russia,  diphtheria  in,  105 
i   Russell,  Sir  James,  288 
i   Russell,  Dr.  Risien,  46 


Salicylic  acid,  255 
St.  Martin,  Alexis,  28 
Sambon,  Dr.  G.  C.,  220 
Samoa,  filariasis  in,  240 

'   Sanarelli,  Prof.,  234,  315 
San  Carlos  jail,  yellow  fever  in, 
234 

i   Sanders,  Dr.,  253 

!   Sanderson,  Sir  John  Burdon,  32 

I  Saturday  Review^  the,  103 
2  B 


386 


INDEX 


Scarbrugh,  Dr.,  251 
Schifif,  Prof.,  58,  249 
Securus  judical^  123 
Segregation    against     malaria, 

224 
Selective  action  of  drugs,  252 
Semmelweis,    Ignaz,    work    on 

puerperal  fever,  79-82 
Semon,  Sir  Felix,  248 
Semple,  Surg.-Major,  196,  210 
Serampur,  cholera  at,  164 
"Serious  experiments,"  349-353 
Sewage,  experiments  for  testing, 

288 
Sewell,  Dr.,  263 
Shambles  of  Science^  the,  313 
Siegert's    tables   of  diphtheria, 

123 
Sierra  Leone,  malaria  in,  226 
Simon,      Sir     John,      evidence 

before  1875  Commission,  76 
Simpson,  Dr.  W.  J.,  on  cholera. 

Skin,  diseases  of,  250  ;  grafting, 
264 

Skoda,  82 

Sleeping  sickness,  264 

Smith,  Dr.  J.  W.,  203 

Smith,  Mr.  Stephen,  355 

Snake  venom,  259-263 

Society  for  Prevention  of 
Cruelty  to  Children,  304 

South  Africa,  typhoid  in,  200 
sqg. 

South  America,  yellow  fever  in, 
232  sqq. 

Southwell,  Bishop  of,  319 

Spallanzani,  26 

Speech  centres,  the,  59,  337 

Spontaneous  generation,  244 

Sport,  attitude  of  anti-vivisec- 
tion societies  toward,  308 

Sphygmometer,  the,  17 

Spurious  hydrophobia,  347 

Stanley,  Mr.,  42 

Starling,  Prof.,  39,  69 

Staten  Island,  242 

Steenstrup,  on  entozoa,  244 


Sternberg,  128,  231 
Stoker,  Sir  W.  T.,  291 
Stone,  Dr.,  263 
Streptococci,  83 
Strophanthus,  255 
Strychnine,  study  of,  253 
Subdural  inoculations,  133,  138, 

271 
Suppuration,  84 
Swammerdam,  244 
Syme,  42,  78 
Sympathetic  system,  69 


Tabes  inesenterica^  98 

Talbot,  Rev.  R.,  352 

Terzi,    Signor,    experiment    on 

self,  220 
Tetanus,  128-136 
Tew,  Dr.,  on  typhoid,  197 
Thane,  Mr.  G.  D.,  290 
Thompson    Yates    laboratories, 

223 
Thoracic  duct,  the,  21 
Thuillier,  89 
Thyroid    extract,    use   of,    250  ; 

false  argument,  344 
Tiedemann,  27 
Tooth,  Dr.,  202 
Torsion  of  arteries,  264 
Tracheotomy      in      diphtheria, 

114-120 
Transfusion  of  saline  fluid,  264 
Transplantation  of  bone,  264 
Treves,  Sir  Frederick,  321 
Trichiniasis,  244 
Trotter,  Mr.  W.  B.  L.,  288 
Tubercle,  96-101 
Tuberculin,  98 
Typhoid  fever,  196-21 1 


U 


Umarkhadi  jail,  plague  in,  177 
Undhera,  plague  in,  178 


INDEX 


387 


V 

Valentin,  38 

Valisnieri,  25 

Vallery  Radot,  137 

Vasomotor  system,  56,  69 

Vaughan,  Surg.-Capt.,  155 

Venesection,  264 

Venoms,  relative  strength  of, 260 

Veratria,  255 

Veterinary  operations,  281,  293 

Vierordt,  17 

Villemin,  96 

Virchow,  Prof.,  75,  245 

Virulence,   grades   of,    89,    139, 

260 
Virus  fixe,  139 


W 

Wall,  Dr.  A.,  350 

Waller,  78 

War  Office,  experiments  for,  288 

Washbourn,  Dr.,  208 

Wassermann,  153 

West,  Lieut.  J.  W.,  209 


West   Africa,    malaria   in,    224, 

226 
Wharton  Jones,  yy 
Widal's  reaction,  210,  21 1 
Wilbcrforce,  Archdeacon,    319, 

328 
Willis,  59 

Winburg,  typhoid  in,  209 
Winmarleigh,  Lord,  267 
Wolff,  246 

Wood,  Mr.  Somerville,  339-344 
Woodhead,  Prof.,  117,  124,  271 
Woolsorters'  disease,  ^7 
Wright,  Sir  Almroth,  loi,  170, 

196 


Yellow  fever,  231-240 
Yersin,  169,  194 


Zoophilist^  the,  314-320 
Ziirich,  diphtheria  in,  104 


Printed  by  Ballantyne,  Hanson  6)^  Co. 
Edinburgh  &*  London 


^ 


DATE  DUE 


DEMCO  38-296 


bb4"i07659 


